make the grade
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even this throughway soon couldn’t handle the traffic between Southern and Central California, and the incline was so dangerous that mule teams had to be summoned to rescue underpowered cars that couldn’t make the grade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Coltin Stidham wanted to be a pilot, but his eyesight didn’t make the grade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
For sports desperate to make the grade, the journey can be daunting, frustrating, and heartbreaking.
From BBC ● May 6, 2024
The class’s first video to make the grade showed scenes from campus edited together.
From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2023
Several of the ponies are barely able to make the grade.
From The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919 by Lewis E. Jahns
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.
