pay grade

[pey greyd]

noun

1. the grade of a member of the armed services established according to a scale of increasing amounts of base pay and related to but not identical with official rank.

   A soldier in my pay grade had very little money.

2. a grade on any pay or salary scale.

   Advancement to a higher pay grade will depend on your job performance.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pay grade¹

First recorded in 1880–85; originally a term in the U.S. armed forces

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. be above / be beyond one's pay grade, to be above one’s level of ability, skill, knowledge, or authority: It’s beyond this court’s pay grade to alter the doctrine.

   To be honest, that subject is way above my pay grade.

   It’s beyond this court’s pay grade to alter the doctrine.

Example Sentences

It’s well below Maggie’s pay grade: Oleg wants augmentation mammoplasty for his mistress Nadia.

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“That was beyond my pay grade,” he said.

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Then I went to a neurologist, who sent me to another neurologist, who said, ‘This is way above my pay grade.’

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Asked if she thought the party needed a Welsh figurehead, she said: "That's above my pay grade."

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She writes about the challenges of surviving in an economy of independent creators and how the valuation of her work has declined from a “once-respectable pay grade to something rivaling the proceeds from a child’s lemonade stand.”

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