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• third degree
  third degree

  noun

  intensive questioning or rough treatment, especially by the police, in order to get information or a confession.
• third-degree
  third-degree

  verb (used with object)

  to subject to the third degree.

third degree

¹ American  

noun

1. intensive questioning or rough treatment, especially by the police, in order to get information or a confession.

2. the degree of master mason in Freemasonry.

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third-degree ² American  

[thurd-di-gree] / ˈθɜrd dɪˈgri /

verb (used with object)

third-degreed, third-degreeing

1. to subject to the third degree.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the third degree.

third degree British  

noun

1. informal torture or bullying, esp used to extort confessions or information

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third degree Idioms  

1. Intensive questioning or rough treatment used to obtain information or a confession, as in The detectives gave her the third degree, or Jim gave her the third degree when she came home so late. This term comes from freemasonry, where a candidate receives the third or highest degree, that of master mason, upon passing an intensive test. Dating from the 1770s, the phrase was transferred to other kinds of interrogation in the late 1800s.

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Etymology

Origin of third degree¹

First recorded in 1860–65

Origin of third-degree²

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

third degree third-degree third-degreed third-degreeing

Truelove was arraigned Friday on charges of burglary and menacing in the third degree as hate crimes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

Tuliaupupu is now pursuing his third degree, as he already earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2022, before earning his master’s degree in project management.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 11, 2026

We give you the third degree in this week’s Slate News Quiz.

From Slate ● May 30, 2025

Heart blocks are graded as first, second or third degree, depending on severity.

From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2024

It was like the third degree, only he was both interrogator and suspect, both tough cop and hounded prisoner, a cruel spotlight pinning him in a blinding circle of light.

From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier

She suffered a third-degree tear during a forceps delivery and her first episode of incontinence soon afterwards - but was discharged home without support.

From BBC ● May 13, 2026

Their shared DNA indicated a third-degree relationship, meaning they were probably cousins.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 19, 2026

Just two months before that, almost exactly two years ago, the “Jay Leno’s Garage” star was treated for second- and third-degree burns he sustained while working on an old car in his Burbank garage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2024

Physicians who violate the law are subject to committing a third-degree felony, fines or loss of medical licenses.

From Salon ● May 8, 2024

It was only his lower face and hands that had been third-degree.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

As many a victim of U.S. press conferences knows, being interviewed by the press is sometimes a good deal like being third-degreed by the cops.

From Time Magazine Archive

Clayton had taken the first train for Chicago; but not before Podmore had third-degreed him into abject fear.

From Every Man for Himself by Hopkins Moorhouse

He doggedly returned to his third-degreeing of Dale.

From The Bat by Avery Hopwood

So I set about discreetly third-degreeing Poppsy, who finally acknowledged, with awe in her voice, that Dinkie had been in a fight.

From The Prairie Child by Ward. E. F. (Edmund Franklin)