dissertation
noun
Simple meaning
A formal exposition of a subject.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihsertayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪsɚˈteɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A formal exposition of a subject, especially a research paper that students write in order to complete the requirements for a doctoral degree in the US and a non-doctoral degree in the UK; a thesis.
A lengthy lecture on a subject; a treatise; a discourse; a sermon.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Academic
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A formal exposition of a subject, especially a research paper that students write in order to complete the requirements for a doctoral degree in the US and a non-doctoral degree in the UK; a thesis.
Used this way, dissertation is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in academic writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Academic writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use dissertation
- “She spent two years writing her dissertation for her doctoral degree.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: formal exposition of a subject
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.