PUPIL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pupil mean? 

• PUPIL (noun)
  The noun PUPIL has 3 senses:

1. a learner who is enrolled in an educational institution

2. the contractile aperture in the center of the iris of the eye; resembles a large black dot

3. a young person attending school (up through senior high school)

  Familiarity information: PUPIL used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUPIL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A learner who is enrolled in an educational institution

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

educatee; pupil; student

Hypernyms ("pupil" is a kind of...):

enrollee (a person who enrolls in (or is enrolled in) a class or course of study)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pupil"):

major (a university student who is studying a particular field as the principal subject)

Wykehamist (a student enrolled in (or graduated from) Winchester College)

withdrawer (a student who withdraws from the educational institution in which he or she was enrolled)

nonachiever; underachiever; underperformer (a student who does not perform as well as expected or as well as the IQ indicates)

skipper (a student who fails to attend classes)

sixth-former (a student in the sixth form)

seminarian; seminarist (a student at a seminary (especially a Roman Catholic seminary))

scholar (a student who holds a scholarship)

passer (a student who passes an examination)

overachiever (a student who attains higher standards than the IQ indicated)

nonreader (a student who is very slow in learning to read)

medical student; medico (a student in medical school)

law student (a student in law school)

Ivy Leaguer (a student or graduate at an Ivy League school)

Etonian (a student enrolled in (or graduated from) Eton College)

crammer (a student who crams)

college boy; college man; collegian (a student (or former student) at a college or university)

catechumen; neophyte (a new convert being taught the principles of Christianity by a catechist)

auditor (a student who attends a course but does not take it for credit)

art student (someone studying to be an artist)

Holonyms ("pupil" is a member of...):

teacher-student relation (the academic relation between teachers and their students)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The contractile aperture in the center of the iris of the eye; resembles a large black dot

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("pupil" is a kind of...):

aperture (a natural opening in something)

Holonyms ("pupil" is a part of...):

iris (muscular diaphragm that controls the size of the pupil which in turn controls the amount of light that enters the eye; it forms the colored portion of the eye)

Derivation:

pupillary (of or relating to the pupil of the eye)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A young person attending school (up through senior high school)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

pupil; school-age child; schoolchild

Hypernyms ("pupil" is a kind of...):

spring chicken; young person; younker; youth (a young person (especially a young man or boy))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pupil"):

boarder (a pupil who lives at school during term time)

day boarder (a schoolchild at a boarding school who has meals at school but sleeps at home)

latchkey child (a school-age child who is home without adult supervision for part of the day (especially after school until a parent returns home from work))

schoolboy (a boy attending school)

 Context examples 

The colored tissue at the front of the eye that contains the pupil in the center.

(Iris, NCI Dictionary)

And you shall see how worthy a pupil I am.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Ah, you are my favourite pupil still. It is worth to teach you.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I used to be afraid that I had better have remained your pupil, and almost your child.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Varens is the name of your future pupil.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Of course I shall have rich pupils, also—perhaps begin with such altogether.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The morning of the interesting day arrived, and Mrs. Weston's faithful pupil did not forget either at ten, or eleven, or twelve o'clock, that she was to think of her at four.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

These cells, discovered only a decade ago, are crucial for maintaining sleep-wake cycles and for pupil response to light, but play no role in image formation.

(How Light Boosts Migraine Pain, NIH, US)

The part of the nervous system that slows the heart, dilates blood vessels, decreases pupil size, increases digestive juices, and relaxes muscles in the gastrointestinal tract.

(Parasympathetic nervous system, NCI Dictionary)

A finding indicating the quick and brisk constriction of the pupils in response to light.

(Normal Pupillary Response, NCI Thesaurus)