Word.ws English Dictionary

master out

master out verb: to quit a PhD program and earn a master's degree.

Verb

master out (third-person singular simple present masters out, present participle mastering out, simple past and past participle mastered out)

  1. To quit a PhD program and earn a master's degree.
    • Folks who do not pass all their standardized requirements or are otherwise lacking are mastered-out in their first year.2003 March 17, Uncle Al, sci.chem (Usenet)
    • By the second half of my second year, I was not fully committed to finish my PhD and decided to master out. Despite this unpredictable decision, she still showed me her support and guided me to complete my Master’s degree.2018, Javier Sánchez Pozo, TIMP-2 Phosphorylation by Extracellular c-SRC Regulates proMMP-2 Activation, State University of New York Upstate Medical University

Examples of master out in a sentence

  • I knew in my mind the worst-case scenario I'd master out with a free master's and that's not a bad thing, in my mind.2022, Shannon O’Brien, Catherine G. P. Berdanier, quoting Angie, “How ‘Returner’ and ‘Direct-Pathway’ Graduate Students’ Experiences May...
  • At that point, Cassandra’s advisor questioned her ability to finish her program and “pushed her to master out” despite her intention to finish the program.2024, Stephanie M. Breen, Jesse McCain, Josipa Roksa, “Breaking points: exploring how negative doctoral advisor relationships develop over...

Forms of master out

third-person singular presentmasters out
present participlemastering out
past participlemastered out
pastmastered out

Questions about master out

What does master out mean?
Master out means to quit a PhD program and earn a master's degree.
How do you use master out in a sentence?
I knew in my mind the worst-case scenario I'd master out with a free master's and that's not a bad thing, in my mind.
What part of speech is master out?
Master out is a verb.
What is the past tense of master out?
The past tense of master out is mastered out.

Words near master out in the dictionary

  1. Master of the Revels
  2. Master of the Rolls
  3. master of the schools
  4. Master of the Universe
  5. master of the woods
  6. master out
  7. master plan
  8. master plans
  9. master race
  10. master races
  11. master reset

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: master out (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “master out.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/master_out. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.