(US, Canada, colloquial) The individual in a graduating class who graduates with the highest grades.
Used in a Sentence
valedictorian
Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for valedictorian.
Editorial note
To whit: almost half of my graduating class was reported as valedictorian to the colleges they applied to.
Examples17
Definitions2
Parts of speech1
Quick take
(US, Canada, colloquial) The individual in a graduating class who graduates with the highest grades.
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of valedictorian gathered in one view.
(US, Canada, properly) The individual in a graduating class who delivers the farewell or valedictory address, often the person who graduates with the highest grades.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for valedictorian.
noun
(US, Canada, colloquial) The individual in a graduating class who graduates with the highest grades.
noun
(US, Canada, properly) The individual in a graduating class who delivers the farewell or valedictory address, often the person who graduates with the highest grades.
Example sentences
To whit: almost half of my graduating class was reported as valedictorian to the colleges they applied to.
The valedictorian of the other high school in my town had a 4.0 GPA, yet was not even interviewed.
Ilves graduated as valedictorian in 1972 and went on to receive degrees from Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania.
The valedictorian of my high school didn't even apply to Caltech, despite going on to do well as an applied mathematician.
Being the most secure OS, these days, is like being valedictorian of summer school.
Another friend graduated valedictorian, went to work at Goldman Sachs, and on the offtime he enjoys listening to hardcore rap and ludacris.
The valedictorian wound up being the person who realized this, took as many AP classes as possible, and as few regular classes as possible.
The valedictorian of the other high school didnt get an interview.
For comparison the female valedictorian from my HS went to Harvard.
He was his high school's valedictorian and had excellent SAT's.
Just being a valedictorian, active, national merit scholar wasn't enough.
Isn't the valedictorian (theoretically) the smartest kid in the school?
Quote examples
As another anecdote, the best "business" guy I know from my graduating class (in fact, the valedictorian from a class of 5000 people) is also considering an MBA.
For one, when they graduated in the early 60s there was a massive gender gap in college attendance - my mom was valedictorian and went to secretarial school because her parents told her "women can be teachers, secretaries, or nurses", by the 70s she knew she should have gone to college.
Proper noun examples
I was far from a Valedictorian, I scraped by with Bs and Cs.
And the cognitive approaches, that didn't work, were being tried by a genuinely brilliant patient -- Valedictorian, PBK, Summa Cum Laude, world famous research university Ph.
E.g., my father in law was on his local school board, and my wife was Valedictorian, PBK, Woodrow Wilson, 'Summa Cum Laude', two years of NSF fellowship in one award, and Ph.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use valedictorian in a sentence?
To whit: almost half of my graduating class was reported as valedictorian to the colleges they applied to.
What does valedictorian mean?
(US, Canada, colloquial) The individual in a graduating class who graduates with the highest grades.
What part of speech is valedictorian?
valedictorian is commonly used as noun.