educated
Americanadjective
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having undergone education.
educated people.
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characterized by or displaying qualities of culture and learning.
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based on some information or experience.
an educated estimate of next year's sales.
adjective
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having an education, esp a good one
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displaying culture, taste, and knowledge; cultivated
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(prenominal) based on experience or information (esp in the phrase an educated guess )
Other Word Forms
- half-educated adjective
- noneducated adjective
- quasi-educated adjective
- supereducated adjective
- undereducated adjective
- well-educated adjective
Etymology
Origin of educated
Explanation
If you're educated, you've been to school or college, or otherwise been instructed or trained. Using long, fancy words will either make people think you're educated or that you're a show-off. When you make an educated decision about something, you've learned about the subject before making up your mind — you've been educated or educated yourself, and you understand it completely. An educated conversation or debate about a topic is one in which both sides have knowledge about the issues. Educated comes from educate, with its Latin root, educare, which means both "educate" and "bring up or rear children."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Malala was 15 years old when she was targeted for speaking up for the rights of girls to be educated – and the day remains etched in Khushal's memory.
From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026
Many of my patients are older and highly educated, typically in the fields of law, education, and economics, given our location.
From Slate • Apr. 16, 2026
“It’s clear that he, like me, was educated at theme parks,” says friend Charles Phoenix, a midcentury pop-culture and design expert.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026
New York Fed researchers found current AI usage is concentrated among higher income, higher educated, full-time workers, according to a post published Tuesday.
From Barron's • Apr. 14, 2026
The séance format that they developed allowed three working-class, barely educated women to advise higher-class, well-educated men, who never would have listened otherwise.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
