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.
He had hoped to continue his straight-A streak in Higher Maths and go on to study electrical engineering or law but is now worried he might not make the grade.
From BBC ● May 11, 2026
Coltin Stidham wanted to be a pilot, but his eyesight didn’t make the grade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
But the band’s early attempts to make the grade had fallen flat on its face.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2025
The class’s first video to make the grade showed scenes from campus edited together.
From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2023
Each train, in order to make the grade and the blockade against it, was straining the cylinders.
From Golden Stories A Selection of the Best Fiction by the Foremost Writers by Various
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.
