gradate
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
-
to change or cause to change imperceptibly, as from one colour, tone, or degree to another
-
(tr) to arrange in grades or ranks
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gradate
First recorded in 1745–55; back formation from gradation
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"The windows will gradate, one side will start all white and become gray," Irwin said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2014
Still others use it to describe the ombré plaids popular in Western shirts in which two colors gradate from one to the other.
From New York Times ● Dec. 16, 2010
Nay, I think it may even be a question whether we ought not to resolve that the line should never gradate itself at all, but terminate quite bluntly!
From On the Old Road Vol. 1 (of 2) A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature by Ruskin, John
When you can manage to tint and gradate tenderly with the pencil point, get a good large alphabet, and try to tint the letters into shape with the pencil point.
From The Crown of Wild Olive also Munera Pulveris; Pre-Raphaelitism; Aratra Pentelici; The Ethics of the Dust; Fiction, Fair and Foul; The Elements of Drawing by Ruskin, John
From this point the dark and light masses gradate in different directions until they merge above the ships' sails.
From The Practice and Science of Drawing by Speed, Harold
Two gradated from separate high schools in the Grosse Pointe district: Brian Fraser, president of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, and Arielle Anderson.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 14, 2023
He became a star running back in high school, gradated from UC Berkeley and earned his doctorate from Yale.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2022
Makepeace has a background as a sculptor, and he uses gradated color deftly to suggest curving, 3-D forms and the play of light across the telescope’s complex components.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 22, 2021
The cover art features the two lawyers smiling blondly, superimposed over a baby-blue gradated background that looks a little like a sky.
From Slate ● Dec. 13, 2021
These points will indicate about the position of the shadow; but the niche being semicircular and domed at the top the shadow gradually loses itself in a gradated and somewhat serpentine half-tone.
From The Theory and Practice of Perspective by Storey, G. A. (George Adolphus)
On Gabriel’s wings you can make out every last feather, gently gradating from green to gold to grapefruit pink.
From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2020
The swinging lines should vary in thickness along their course, getting darker as they pass certain parts, and gradating into lighter lines at other parts according to the effect desired.
From The Practice and Science of Drawing by Speed, Harold
Another very effective arrangement may be made by gradating a broad border from a white centre, through clear pinks on either side to bright scarlets, and ending at each extremity with deepest crimsons.
From Roses and Rose Growing by Kingsley, Rose Georgina
Nearly all expression of form, in drawing, depends on your power of gradating delicately; and the gradation is always most skilful which passes from one tint into another very little paler.
From The Crown of Wild Olive also Munera Pulveris; Pre-Raphaelitism; Aratra Pentelici; The Ethics of the Dust; Fiction, Fair and Foul; The Elements of Drawing by Ruskin, John
Nearly all expression of form, in drawing, depends on your power of gradating delicately; and the gradation is always most skillful which passes from one tint into another very little paler.
From The Elements of Drawing In Three Letters to Beginners by Ruskin, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
