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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

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

Every time I saw Ella, even brushing my teeth in the morning, she turned on the third degree.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

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

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

They were also third-degree relatives, suggesting a connection such as great-aunt and niece or cousins.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 19, 2026

Chauvin was eventually found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2025

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 Moorhouse, Hopkins

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)

He doggedly returned to his third-degreeing of Dale.

From The Bat by Hopwood, Avery