grade
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.
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.
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.
grade up, to improve (a herd, flock, etc.) by breeding with purebreds.
Idioms about 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
1Other words for grade
Other words from grade
- mis·grade, verb, mis·grad·ed, mis·grad·ing.
- mis·grad·ed, adjective
- mul·ti·grade, adjective
- o·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, noun
- re·grade, verb (used with object), re·grad·ed, re·grad·ing.
- un·grad·ed, adjective
- well-graded, adjective
Words Nearby grade
Other definitions for -grade (2 of 2)
a combining form meaning “walking, moving,” in the manner or by the means specified by the initial element: plantigrade.
Origin of -grade
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use grade in a sentence
At London Metropolitan University, around 200 students “self-released” from places they had accepted after teacher-assessed grades were accepted — around 50 percent more than in a normal year.
UK Universities Predicted a COVID-19 Crash. They Got the Opposite | Fiona Zublin | September 17, 2020 | OzyDuring the first half of 2020, many students have fallen behind academically as they’ve relied on remote learning, which will make it harder for many to meet grade level expectations.
Closing schools for Covid-19 hurts students’ financial future | Alexandra Ossola | September 10, 2020 | QuartzOn the final test, they scored more than a full letter grade better, on average, than did students who studied the way they normally had.
Top 10 tips on how to study smarter, not longer | Kathiann Kowalski | September 9, 2020 | Science News For StudentsResearch shows, for instance, that when curriculum is made ethnically relevant for students, dropout rates go down and grades and attendance go up.
Creative school plans could counter inequities exposed by COVID-19 | Sujata Gupta | September 8, 2020 | Science NewsWhen spring semester ended that first year, I had good grades, and books I no longer needed, but I did not have fifty cents to my name.
What I learned from 5 years of cleaning airplanes in the middle of the night | matthewheimer | August 30, 2020 | Fortune
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 | THE DAILY BEASTI know the verse because Mrs. Bertalan used to have us do it in ninth-grade choir.
“By no means are we grade A professional consultants,” Goff said.
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 | THE DAILY BEASTBehind 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 | THE DAILY BEASTWe were about nine hours of fair daylight traversing 160 miles of level or descending grade, with a light passenger train.
Glances at Europe | Horace GreeleyBy 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 DickensThePg 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)
/ (ɡreɪd) /
a position or degree in a scale, as of quality, rank, size, or progression: small-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
(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
Origin of grade
1British Dictionary definitions for -grade (2 of 2)
indicating a kind or manner of movement or progression: plantigrade; retrograde
Origin of -grade
2Collins 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
[ 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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with grade
see make the grade.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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