centigrade

American  

[sen-ti-greyd] / ˈsɛn tɪˌgreɪd /

adjective

1. divided into 100 degrees, as a scale.

2. (initial capital letter)  Celsius. cent. C

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centigrade British  

/ ˈsɛntɪˌɡreɪd /

adjective

1. a former name for Celsius

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noun

1. a unit of angle equal to one hundredth of a grade

centigrade Scientific  

/ sĕn′tĭ-grād′ /

1. See Celsius

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centigrade Cultural  

1. The Celsius temperature scale.

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Usage

Although still used in meteorology, centigrade , when indicating the Celsius scale of temperature, is now usually avoided because of its possible confusion with the hundredth part of a grade

Because of confusion over the prefix centi–, which originally meant 100 but developed the meaning 1/100, scientists agreed to stop using the term centigrade in 1948. The term Celsius is now standard.

Etymology

Origin of centigrade

From French, dating back to 1805–15; centi-, -grade

Example Sentences

The Big Bang theory postulates that the universe was inflated from a microscopic speck in a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second, at a temperature of trillions degrees centigrade.

From Washington Post

“But it’s not always like this. We get near 30 degrees centigrade in the summer.”

From Washington Post

West to more than double by as early as mid-century under the scenario of a two-degrees centigrade rise in temperatures, according to a recent study by Western Colorado University professor Jonathan Coop and others.

From Reuters

If the Earth is to avoid damaging environmental effects, including more extreme weather, it needs to limit average global warming to below 1.5 degrees centigrade.

From BBC

For the study, they defined “extreme” as at least 30 degrees centigrade on the wet-bulb globe temperature scale.

From The Verge