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• grade
  grade

  noun

  a degree or step in a scale, as of rank, advancement, quality, value, or intensity.
• -grade
  -grade

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

grade

¹ American  

[grayd] / greɪd /

noun

• grades
  plural

1. a degree or step in a scale, as of rank, advancement, quality, value, or intensity.

   the best grade of paper.

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

3. a step or stage in a course or process.

4. 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.

5. the pupils in such a division.

6. (the) grades. elementary school.

   He first began teaching in the grades.

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

8. a classification or standard of food based on quality, size, etc..

   grade A milk.

9. 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.

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

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

12. Mathematics. grad.

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verb (used with object)

• grades,
  present (3rd person singular)
• graded,
  past participle,  past
• grading
  present participle

1. to arrange in a series of grades; class; sort.

   a machine that grades two thousand eggs per hour.

   Synonyms:

   categorize, order, rate, rank, classify

2. to determine the grade of.

3. to assign a grade to (a student's work); mark.

   I graded forty tests last night.

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

5. to reduce to a level or to practicable degrees of inclination.

   to grade a road.

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

verb (used without object)

• grades,
  present (3rd person singular)
• graded,
  past participle,  past
• grading
  present participle

1. to incline; slant or slope.

   The road grades steeply for a mile.

2. to be of a particular grade or quality.

3. to pass by degrees from one color or shade to another; blend.

   See how the various colors grade into one another.

verb phrase

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

idioms

1. up to grade, of the desired or required quality.

   This shipment is not up to grade.

2. at grade,

   1. on the same level.

      A railroad crosses a highway at grade.

   2. (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.

3. make the grade, to attain a specific goal; succeed.

   He'll never make the grade in medical school.

-grade ² American  

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

   plantigrade.

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-grade ¹ British  

combining form

1. indicating a kind or manner of movement or progression

   plantigrade

   retrograde

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grade ² British  

/ ɡreɪd /

noun

1. a position or degree in a scale, as of quality, rank, size, or progression

   small-grade eggs

   high-grade timber

2. a group of people or things of the same category

3. a military or other rank

4. a stage in a course of progression

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

6. a unit of pupils of similar age or ability taught together at school

7. 1. a part of a railway, road, etc, that slopes upwards or downwards; inclination

   2. 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

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

9. stockbreeding

   1. an animal with one purebred parent and one of unknown or unimproved breeding

   2. ( as modifier ) Compare crossbred purebred

      a grade sheep

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

11. 1. on the same level

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

12. informal

    1. to reach the required standard

    2. to succeed

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verb

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

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

3. (intr) to achieve or deserve a grade or rank

4. to change or blend (something) gradually; merge

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

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

grade Scientific  

/ grād /

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

2. 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.

3. Compare clade

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grade More Idioms  

1. see make the grade.

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Usage

What does -grade mean? The combining form -grade is used like a suffix meaning “walking; moving.” It is very occasionally used in scientific terms, especially in biology. The form -grade comes from Latin gradus, meaning “step,” or Latin gradī, meaning "to walk." These two Latin sources are the root of numerous words in English, from aggressive, degree, and grade to graduate, ingredient, and progress. Check out our entries for these six words to learn more.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• misgrade
  verb
• overgrade
  verb (used with object)
• pregrade
  verb (used with object)
• regrade
  verb (used with object)
• misgraded
  adjective
• multigrade
  adjective
• ungraded
  adjective
• well-graded
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• grades
  plural

Participles

• grading
  present
• graded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• grade
  simple
• grades
  simple
• have graded
  perfect
• has graded
  perfect
• am grading
  progressive
• are grading
  progressive
• is grading
  progressive
• have been grading
  perfect progressive
• has been grading
  perfect progressive

Past

• graded
  simple
• had graded
  perfect
• was grading
  progressive
• were grading
  progressive
• had been grading
  perfect progressive

Future

• will grade
  simple
• will have graded
  perfect
• will be grading
  progressive
• will have been grading
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of grade¹

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

Origin of -grade²

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

Explanation

Grade means "to evaluate or rank," like teachers who grade their students or a food inspector who grades a crop, determining whether it is "food-grade." Grade can be both a noun and a verb. The verb form is used when you grade something, meaning you assign it a value. The actual mark assigned is the noun version of the word grade, such as an A or B. The noun grade can be used to indicate the rank or quality of other items as well, like professional-grade cookware. Grade can also describe the slope of a mountain or road, like a steep grade that is dangerous in bad weather.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

grade -grade grades graded grading

She told her dad that she suspected one of her teachers used AI to generate nearly everything and grade.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

The Anti-Defamation League raised UCLA’s antisemitism grade from an F in 2024 to a B this year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

In early September, Mayor Zohran Mamdani banned student AI use in classrooms through eighth grade for the school year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

In the basement: what I believe are my first pair of hockey skates, a broken papier-mâché Groucho Marx puppet, and a Green Bay Packers helmet I hand-painted in fourth grade.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026

That’s going to be my best test grade all year!

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Investment-grade munis outperformed investment -grade taxable bonds by about 3%, while high-yield munis outperformed by a massive 11.4%.

From Forbes ● Jan. 15, 2015

Alongside a five-story addition built 61 years ago, the antique landmark is jammed by 1,009 kindergarten - through -sixth -grade pupils.

From Time Magazine Archive

Refiners have increasingly sought alternative barrels from Latin America and elsewhere as availability of comparable Middle Eastern grades has tightened, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

The study involved students in grades six through eight at 22 middle schools in a large southeastern state, with a first wave in December 2025 and a second wave this past April and May.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

Test scores and undergraduate grades are central to the department’s case.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026

The department said it found a similar pattern when it compared applicants with the same test scores, undergraduate grades and socioeconomic characteristics.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026

I worked hard and got good grades, but a lot of students there were getting good grades.

From "Facing the Lion" by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton and Herman Viola

The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. insurers have around $40 billion of debt investments on their books that Egan-Jones has privately graded.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026

She also compared it to her experience having her sleep graded by professionals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

Since making his U.S. debut in January 2022, he has won a dozen races, all but one in a graded stakes, and earned more than $2.5 million.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

Exams are graded differently in Wales and Northern Ireland and still use a letter system, while students in Scotland take Nationals instead of GCSEs.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

They are graded by how many knots they have crammed in every square centimeter.

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri

In the reports, OpenAI said that it had improved its alignment grading system to better penalize bad behavior.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Trading-card grading volume is growing year over year, hitting a record high this April, and so is counterfeit activity.

From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2026

You might say that’s mawkish, or that I’m grading on a curve for a first-time filmmaker.

From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026

About 100 health visitors at Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board have been on strike since February in a row over job grading, saying they are losing up to £9,000 a year as a result.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Emma Jean was valedictorian of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s class of 1946, working her way through school serving meals in the dining hall and grading papers for professors.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Related Words

• category
• class
• classification
• condition
• degree
• level
• quality
• size
• standard