The highest degree that a person can earn from a university or college; such as, a PhD, Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy or an American doctorate usually based on at least three years of graduate study and a dissertation): Carol was teaching at the university after having earned her PhD doctorate.

The institution awarding the doctorate has considerable discretion as to the titles it uses for degrees; so, institutional nomenclature may differ even for the same subject. The following are just a sample of the many doctorates that are issued by universities:

• D.M.D: Doctor of Dental Medicine
• D.D.S: Doctor of Dental Surgery
• D.D: Doctor of Divinity (in religion)
• D.Ed., Ed.D: Doctor of Education
• M.D: Doctor of Medicine
• D.Mus, Mus.D: Doctor of Music
• Mus.D: Doctor of Musical Arts
• O.D: Doctor of Optometry
• D.O: Doctor of Osteopathy
• D.A.: Doctor of Arts
• D.Chem.: Doctor of Chemistry
• (D.G.S.: Doctor of Geological Science
• D.Phil, a British doctorate in Philosophy
• D.P.H: Doctor of Public Health (in preventive medicine)
• D.Sc or Sc.D: Doctor of Sciences
• Th.D: Doctor of Theology (religion)
• S.T.D: Doctor of Sacred Theology (religion)
• D.G.S. Doctor of Geological Science
• D.M.L.: Doctor of Modern Languages
• D.M.Sc.: Doctor of Medical Science
• D.C.J.: Doctor of Criminal Justice
• D.L.S: Doctor of Library Science
• D.C.J.: Doctor of Criminal Justice
• D.Sc.H.: Doctor of Science and Hygiene