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• third degree
  third degree

  noun

  intensive questioning or rough treatment, especially by the police, in order to get information or a confession.
• third-degree
  third-degree

  verb (used with object)

  to subject to the third degree.

third degree

¹ American  

noun

1. intensive questioning or rough treatment, especially by the police, in order to get information or a confession.

2. the degree of master mason in Freemasonry.

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third-degree ² American  

[thurd-di-gree] / ˈθɜrd dɪˈgri /

verb (used with object)

third-degreed, third-degreeing

1. to subject to the third degree.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the third degree.

third degree British  

noun

1. informal torture or bullying, esp used to extort confessions or information

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third degree Idioms  

1. Intensive questioning or rough treatment used to obtain information or a confession, as in The detectives gave her the third degree, or Jim gave her the third degree when she came home so late. This term comes from freemasonry, where a candidate receives the third or highest degree, that of master mason, upon passing an intensive test. Dating from the 1770s, the phrase was transferred to other kinds of interrogation in the late 1800s.

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Etymology

Origin of third degree¹

First recorded in 1860–65

Origin of third-degree²

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

third degree third-degree third-degreed third-degreeing

Tuliaupupu is now pursuing his third degree, as he already earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2022, before earning his master’s degree in project management.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 11, 2026

Freemasons wear symbolic aprons and progress through degrees of membership, with the phrase "giving someone the third degree" originating from its final stage of initiation.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2025

We give you the third degree in this week’s Slate News Quiz.

From Slate ● May 30, 2025

An Aurora police officer was convicted of homicide and third degree assault earlier this year, while two officers were acquitted.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2023

Then Rhodri said to me, “God, you do get the third degree, don’t you.”

From "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon

A man who suffered third-degree burns from hot sand after using a disposable barbecue on a beach has warned others to be aware of the dangers.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

Still, the reference to 1930s-era Chicago law enforcement was apt, because it was an era of police lawlessness, where unconstitutional practices like the third-degree were justified as necessary to stopping organized crime.

From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026

Their shared DNA indicated a third-degree relationship, meaning they were probably cousins.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 19, 2026

The two are seasoned martial artists — she’s a third-degree black belt in Seido karate and he’s practiced karate, boxing and Muay Thai kickboxing since he was a teenager.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2026

Ray is a third-degree black belt in tae kwon do.

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri

As many a victim of U.S. press conferences knows, being interviewed by the press is sometimes a good deal like being third-degreed by the cops.

From Time Magazine Archive

Clayton had taken the first train for Chicago; but not before Podmore had third-degreed him into abject fear.

From Every Man for Himself by Hopkins Moorhouse

He doggedly returned to his third-degreeing of Dale.

From The Bat by Avery Hopwood

So I set about discreetly third-degreeing Poppsy, who finally acknowledged, with awe in her voice, that Dinkie had been in a fight.

From The Prairie Child by Ward. E. F. (Edmund Franklin)