how to spell dissertation in english

Words and phrases

Personal account.

Access or purchase personal subscriptions
Get our newsletter
Save searches
Set display preferences

Institutional access

Recommend to your librarian

Institutional account management

dissertation noun

Hide all quotations

What does the noun dissertation mean?

There are three meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun dissertation , one of which is labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

How common is the noun dissertation ?

How is the noun dissertation pronounced, british english, u.s. english, where does the noun dissertation come from.

Earliest known use

early 1600s

The earliest known use of the noun dissertation is in the early 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for dissertation is from 1611, in the writing of John Speed, historian and cartographer.

dissertation is a borrowing from Latin .

Etymons: Latin dissertātiōn-em .

Nearby entries

dissentment, n. a1699–
dissentory, n. 1658
disseparable, adj. a1849–
disseparate, v. 1550
dissepiment, n. 1727–
dissepimental, adj. 1857–
dissept, v. 1657
dissepulchred, adj. 1800–
dissert, v. 1623–
dissertate, v. 1766–
dissertation, n. 1611–
dissertational, adj. 1833–
dissertationist, n. 1844–
dissertative, adj. 1816–
dissertator, n. 1698–
disserve, v. 1637–
disservice, n. 1599–
disservice, v. 1837–
disserviceable, adj. 1645–
disserviceableness, n. 1635–
disserviceably, adv. a1670–

Thank you for visiting Oxford English Dictionary

To continue reading, please sign in below or purchase a subscription. After purchasing, please sign in below to access the content.

Meaning & use

Pronunciation, compounds & derived words, entry history for dissertation, n..

dissertation, n. was first published in 1896; not yet revised.

dissertation, n. was last modified in June 2024.

Revision of the OED is a long-term project. Entries in oed.com which have not been revised may include:

corrections and revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates;
new senses, phrases, and quotations which have been added in subsequent print and online updates.

Revisions and additions of this kind were last incorporated into dissertation, n. in June 2024.

Earlier versions of this entry were published in:

OED First Edition (1896)

Find out more

OED Second Edition (1989)

View dissertation in OED Second Edition

Please submit your feedback for dissertation, n.

Please include your email address if you are happy to be contacted about your feedback. OUP will not use this email address for any other purpose.

Citation details

Factsheet for dissertation, n., browse entry.

dissertation

1.1 Etymology
1.2 Pronunciation
1.3.1 Alternative forms
1.3.2 Derived terms
1.3.3 Translations
1.4 Further reading
2.1 Etymology
2.2 Pronunciation
2.3.1 Descendants
2.4 Further reading

From Latin dissertātiō , from dissertō .

Pronunciation

( General American , Canada ) IPA ( key ) : /ˌdɪsɚˈteɪʃən/
( General Australian ) IPA ( key ) : /ˌdɪs.əˈtæɪ.ʃən/
Rhymes: -eɪʃən

dissertation ( plural dissertations )

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 . write a dissertation write up a dissertation hand in a dissertation complete a dissertation
A lengthy lecture on a subject; a treatise ; a discourse ; a sermon .

Alternative forms

diss ( clipping )

Derived terms

all but dissertation
dissertational
dissertationist
dissertator
doctoral dissertation
predissertation

Translations

Descendants

“ dissertation ”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [ Digitized Treasury of the French Language ] , 2012 .

English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ser- (bind)
English terms borrowed from Latin
English terms derived from Latin
English 4-syllable words
English terms with IPA pronunciation
English terms with audio pronunciation
English 5-syllable words
Rhymes:English/eɪʃən
Rhymes:English/eɪʃən/4 syllables
English lemmas
English nouns
English countable nouns
English terms with collocations
French terms borrowed from Latin
French terms derived from Latin
French 4-syllable words
French terms with IPA pronunciation
French terms with audio pronunciation
French lemmas
French nouns
French countable nouns
French feminine nouns
Pages with entries
Pages with 2 entries
Entries with translation boxes
Terms with Armenian translations
Terms with Belarusian translations
Terms with Bulgarian translations
Terms with Catalan translations
Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations
Terms with Mandarin translations
Terms with Czech translations
Terms with Danish translations
Terms with Dutch translations
Terms with Esperanto translations
Terms with Finnish translations
Terms with French translations
Terms with Georgian translations
Terms with German translations
Terms with Gujarati translations
Terms with Hebrew translations
Terms with Hindi translations
Terms with Hungarian translations
Terms with Indonesian translations
Terms with Italian translations
Japanese terms with redundant script codes
Terms with Japanese translations
Terms with Kazakh translations
Terms with Khmer translations
Terms with Latvian translations
Terms with Malayalam translations
Terms with Maori translations
Terms with Norwegian translations
Terms with Persian translations
Terms with Polish translations
Terms with Portuguese translations
Terms with Russian translations
Terms with Spanish translations
Terms with Swedish translations
Terms with Thai translations
Terms with Ukrainian translations
Terms with Vietnamese translations
Vietnamese terms with redundant script codes
Terms with Welsh translations
Requests for translations into Mandarin