academic degree vs laurels

academic degree and laurels both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
academic degree	Yes	No	No	No
laurels	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, laurels is a hypernym of academic degree; that is, laurels is a word with a broader meaning than academic degree:

academic degree: an award conferred by a college or university signifying that the recipient has satisfactorily completed a course of study
laurels: a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction

Other hypernyms of academic degree include accolade, award, honor, honour.

academic degree (noun)	laurels (noun)
an award conferred by a college or university signifying that the recipient has satisfactorily completed a course of study	a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction
	the state of being honored