Jump To:

• 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.

---

third-degree ² American  

[thurd-di-gree] / ˈθɜrd dɪˈgri /

verb (used with object)

third-degreed, third-degreeing

1. to subject to the third degree.

---

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

---

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.

---

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

But how can she get married when her father subjects any man she dates to the third degree?

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 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

The officer, Christian Zapata, 36, pleaded not guilty to assault in the third degree after he was indicted on the misdemeanor charge by a grand jury in the Dec. 7 encounter.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 4, 2023

"What do you mean, how come? Can't I send candy to my wife without getting the third degree? I thought you were looking on the thin side, okay?"

From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin

Still, the reference to 1930s-era Chicago law enforcement was apt, because it was an era of police lawlessness, where unconstitutional practices like the third-degree were justified as necessary to stopping organized crime.

From Salon ● Jun. 5, 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

But later analysis concluded the ECG identified a complete heart block, also known as a third-degree heart block, the most serious kind.

From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2024

Ray is a third-degree black belt in tae kwon do.

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri

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 Moorhouse, Hopkins

He doggedly returned to his third-degreeing of Dale.

From The Bat by Hopwood, Avery

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)