grade

[ greyd ]

/ greɪd /

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See synonyms for: grade / graded / grades / grading on Thesaurus.com

noun

a degree or step in a scale, as of rank, advancement, quality, value, or intensity: the best grade of paper.

a class of persons or things of the same relative rank, quality, etc.

a step or stage in a course or process.

a single division of a school classified according to the age or progress of the pupils. In the U.S., public schools are commonly divided into twelve grades below college.

the pupils in such a division.

(the) grades. elementary school: He first began teaching in the grades.

a letter, number, or other symbol indicating the relative quality of a student's work in a course, examination, or special assignment; mark.

a classification or standard of food based on quality, size, etc.: grade A milk.

inclination with the horizontal of a road, railroad, etc., usually expressed by stating the vertical rise or fall as a percentage of the horizontal distance; slope.

Building Trades.Also called grade line. the level at which the ground intersects the foundation of a building.

an animal resulting from a cross between a parent of ordinary stock and one of a pure breed.

Mathematics. grad².

verb (used with object), grad·ed, grad·ing.

to arrange in a series of grades; class; sort: a machine that grades two thousand eggs per hour.

to determine the grade of.

to assign a grade to (a student's work); mark: I graded forty tests last night.

to cause to pass by degrees, as from one color or shade to another.

to reduce to a level or to practicable degrees of inclination: to grade a road.

to cross (an ordinary or low-grade animal) with an animal of a pure or superior breed.

verb (used without object), grad·ed, grad·ing.

to incline; slant or slope: The road grades steeply for a mile.

to be of a particular grade or quality.

to pass by degrees from one color or shade to another; blend: See how the various colors grade into one another.

Verb Phrases

grade up, to improve (a herd, flock, etc.) by breeding with purebreds.

SYNONYMS FOR grade

13 classify, rank, rate, order, categorize.

See synonyms for grade on Thesaurus.com

QUIZZES

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Set some time apart to test your bracket symbol knowledge, and see if you can keep your parentheses, squares, curlies, and angles all straight!

Question 1 of 7

Let’s start with some etymology: What are the origins of the typographical word “bracket”?

First appeared around 1750, and is related to the French word “braguette” for the name of codpiece armor.

First appeared in 1610, based on the French word “baguette” for the long loaf of bread.

First appeared in 1555, and is related to the French word “raquette” for a netted bat.

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Idioms for grade

at grade,

on the same level: A railroad crosses a highway at grade.
(of a stream bed) so adjusted to conditions of slope and the volume and speed of water that no gain or loss of sediment takes place.

make the grade, to attain a specific goal; succeed: He'll never make the grade in medical school.

up to grade, of the desired or required quality: This shipment is not up to grade.

Origin of grade

First recorded in 1505–15; from French: “office,” from Latin gradus “step, stage, degree,” derivative of gradī “to go, step, walk”

OTHER WORDS FROM grade

mis·grade, verb, mis·grad·ed, mis·grad·ing.mis·grad·ed, adjectivemul·ti·grade, adjectiveo·ver·grade, verb (used with object), o·ver·grad·ed, o·ver·grad·ing.

pre·grade, verb (used with object), pre·grad·ed, pre·grad·ing, nounre·grade, verb (used with object), re·grad·ed, re·grad·ing.un·grad·ed, adjectivewell-graded, adjective

Definition for grade (2 of 2)

-grade

a combining form meaning “walking, moving,” in the manner or by the means specified by the initial element: plantigrade.

Origin of -grade

<Latin -gradus, combining form representing gradus step or gradī to walk. See grade, gradient

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Example sentences from the Web for grade

The pale, baby-faced, red-cheeked rapper is furiously puffing away at a hastily-made blunt crammed with low-grade weed.
The Cult of Yung Lean: ‘I’m Building An Anarchistic Society From the Ground Up’|Marlow Stern|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
I know the verse because Mrs. Bertalan used to have us do it in ninth-grade choir.
Yes, I Like Christmas Music. Stop Laughing.|Michael Tomasky|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“By no means are we Grade A professional consultants,” Goff said.
‘Ready for Romney’ Is Amateur Hour|Tim Mak|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Craig-Lewis was an 11-year veteran of the Philadelphia Fire Department, a position she had aspired to since grade school.
The Mystery Death Of A Female Firefighter|Christopher Moraff|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Behind him stood a flock of fifth-grade boys—and two second-grade girls—all of them wearing the exact same yellow hat.
Even Grade School Kids Are Protesting the Garner Killing Now|Caitlin Dickson|December 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We were about nine hours of fair daylight traversing 160 miles of level or descending grade, with a light passenger train.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
By May, 1793, he had gained the grade of general of brigade; two months later he became general of division.
Napoleon's Marshals|R. P. Dunn-Pattison
"Long bright leaf" is considered the finest, while that known as "Luga" is the poorest and lowest grade of leaf.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
I dont think it would exonerate him either with them or with legal functionaries of a higher grade.
Oliver Twist, Vol. II (of 3)|Charles Dickens
ThePg 96 grade, though very steep, was not so much of an obstacle as the deep sand, with which the road was covered.
British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car|Thomas D. Murphy

British Dictionary definitions for grade (1 of 2)

grade

/ (ɡreɪd) /

noun

a position or degree in a scale, as of quality, rank, size, or progressionsmall-grade eggs; high-grade timber

a group of people or things of the same category

mainly US a military or other rank

a stage in a course of progression

a mark or rating indicating achievement or the worth of work done, as at school

US and Canadian a unit of pupils of similar age or ability taught together at school

US and Canadian

a part of a railway, road, etc, that slopes upwards or downwards; inclination
Also called: gradient a measure of such a slope, esp the ratio of the vertical distance between two points on the slope to the horizontal distance between them

a unit of angle equal to one hundredth of a right angle or 0.9 degree

stockbreeding

an animal with one purebred parent and one of unknown or unimproved breeding
(as modifier)a grade sheep Compare crossbred (def. 2), purebred (def. 2)

linguistics one of the forms of the vowel in a morpheme when this vowel varies because of gradation

at grade

on the same level
(of a river profile or land surface) at an equilibrium level and slope, because there is a balance between erosion and deposition

make the grade informal

to reach the required standard
to succeed

verb

(tr) to arrange according to quality, rank, etc

(tr) to determine the grade of or assign a grade to

(intr) to achieve or deserve a grade or rank

to change or blend (something) gradually; merge

(tr) to level (ground, a road, etc) to a suitable gradient

(tr) stockbreeding to cross (one animal) with another to produce a grade animal

Word Origin for grade

C16: from French, from Latin gradus step, from gradī to step

British Dictionary definitions for grade (2 of 2)

-grade

adj combining form

indicating a kind or manner of movement or progressionplantigrade; retrograde

Word Origin for -grade

via French from Latin -gradus, from gradus a step, from gradī to walk

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for grade

grade

[ grād ]

The degree of inclination of a slope, road, or other surface.

A grouping of organisms done purely on the basis of shared features and without regard to evolutionary relationships. Grades may include organisms that do not share a common ancestor, or may exclude some organisms having the same common ancestor as the other organisms in the grade. For this reason, many taxonomists do not accept grades as formal classifications. The class Reptilia (reptiles) is a grade since it includes dinosaurs but not birds, even though birds are descended from dinosaurs. Compare clade.

Idioms and Phrases with grade

grade

see make the grade.

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grade

noun

verb (used with object), grad·ed, grad·ing.