Definition
The terminal academic degree that requires years of research, comprehensive exams, and a dissertation that approximately seven people will ever read in its entirety. It's the academic equivalent of climbing Everest: grueling, expensive, and something you do mainly to prove you can. Upon completion, you earn the right to be called "Doctor" and to correct people at parties about the difference between a PhD and a medical degree.
Example Usage
After six years of research and subsisting on ramen, Maria finally defended her doctorate on medieval pottery fragments, emerging with both a degree and crushing student debt.
Source: Wiktionary via Free Dictionary API
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