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grade

 - 8 dictionary results

grade

  [greyd] noun, verb, grad⋅ed, grad⋅ing.
Use grade in a Sentence
–noun
1. a degree or step in a scale, as of rank, advancement, quality, value, or intensity: the best grade of paper.
2. a class of persons or things of the same relative rank, quality, etc.
3. a step or stage in a course or process.
4. a single division of a school classified according to the age or progress of the pupils. In the U.S., public schools are commonly divided into twelve grades below college.
5. the pupils in such a division.
6. grades, elementary school (usually prec. by the): He first began teaching in the grades.
7. a letter, number, or other symbol indicating the relative quality of a student's work in a course, examination, or special assignment; mark.
8. a classification or standard of food based on quality, size, etc.: grade A milk.
9. inclination with the horizontal of a road, railroad, etc., usually expressed by stating the vertical rise or fall as a percentage of the horizontal distance; slope.
10. Building Trades. Also called grade line. the level at which the ground intersects the foundation of a building.
11. an animal resulting from a cross between a parent of ordinary stock and one of a pure breed.
12. Mathematics. grad 2 .
–verb (used with object)
13. to arrange in a series of grades; class; sort: a machine that grades two thousand eggs per hour.
14. to determine the grade of.
15. to assign a grade to (a student's work); mark: I graded forty tests last night.
16. to cause to pass by degrees, as from one color or shade to another.
17. to reduce to a level or to practicable degrees of inclination: to grade a road.
18. to cross (an ordinary or low-grade animal) with an animal of a pure or superior breed.
–verb (used without object)
19. to incline; slant or slope: The road grades steeply for a mile.
20. to be of a particular grade or quality.
21. to pass by degrees from one color or shade to another; blend: See how the various colors grade into one another.
—Verb phrase
22. grade up, to improve (a herd, flock, etc.) by breeding with purebreds.
—Idioms
23. at grade,
a. on the same level: A railroad crosses a highway at grade.
b. (of a stream bed) so adjusted to conditions of slope and the volume and speed of water that no gain or loss of sediment takes place.
24. make the grade, to attain a specific goal; succeed: He'll never make the grade in medical school.
25. up to grade, of the desired or required quality: This shipment is not up to grade.
Origin:
1505–15; < F: office < L gradus step, stage, degree, deriv. of gradī to go, step, walk

Synonyms:
13. classify, rank, rate, order, categorize.

-grade

 
a combining form meaning “walking, moving,” in the manner or by the means specified by the initial element: plantigrade.
Origin:
< L -gradus, comb. form repr. gradus step or gradī to walk. See grade, gradient

grad

2  [grad]
–noun
one hundredth of a right angle.
Also, grade.

Origin:
1905–10; < F grade degree < L gradus step
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To grade
grade   (grād)   
n.  

  1. A stage or degree in a process.

  2. A position in a scale of size, quality, or intensity: a poor grade of lumber.

  3. An accepted level or standard.

  4. A set of persons or things all falling in the same specified limits; a class.

    1. A level of academic development in an elementary, middle, or secondary school: learned fractions in the fourth grade.

    2. A group of students at such a level: The third grade has recess at 10:30.

    3. grades Elementary school.

  6. A number, letter, or symbol indicating a student's level of accomplishment: a passing grade in history.

  7. A military, naval, or civil service rank.

  8. The degree of inclination of a slope, road, or other surface: the steep grade of the mountain road.

  9. A slope or gradual inclination, especially of a road or railroad track: slowed the truck when he approached the grade.

  10. The level at which the ground surface meets the foundation of a building.

  11. A domestic animal produced by crossbreeding one of purebred stock with one of ordinary stock.

  12. Linguistics A degree of ablaut.

v.   grad·ed, grad·ing, grades

v.   tr.

  1. To arrange in steps or degrees.

  2. To arrange in a series or according to a scale.

    1. To determine the quality of (academic work, for example); evaluate: graded the book reports.

    2. To give a grade to (a student, for example).

  4. To level or smooth to a desired or horizontal gradient: bulldozers graded the road.

  5. To gradate.

  6. To improve the quality of (livestock) by crossbreeding with purebred stock.

v.   intr.

  1. To hold a certain rank or position.

  2. To change or progress gradually: piles of gravel that grade from coarse to fine.


[French, from Latin gradus; see ghredh- in Indo-European roots.]
grad'a·ble adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

grade  (n.)
1511, from Fr. grade "grade, degree," from L. gradus "step, degree," replacing M.E. gree "step, degree in a series," from O.Fr. grei "step," from L. gradus, related to gradi "to walk, step, go," from PIE *ghredh- (cf. Lith. gridiju "to go, wander," O.C.S. gredo "to come," O.Ir. in-greinn "he pursues," and second element in congress, progress, etc.). The verb is 1659, from the noun. Railway sense is from 1835. Meaning "division of a school curriculum equivalent to one year" is from 1835; that of "letter-mark indicating assessment of a student's work" is from 1886.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: grade
Pronunciation: 'grAd
Function: noun
: a degree of severity of a disease or abnormal condition grade III carcinoma>
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Cite This Source
Science Dictionary
grade   (grād)  Pronunciation Key 

  1. The degree of inclination of a slope, road, or other surface.

  2. A grouping of organisms done purely on the basis of shared features and without regard to evolutionary relationships. Grades may include organisms that do not share a common ancestor, or may exclude some organisms having the same common ancestor as the other organisms in the grade. For this reason, many taxonomists do not accept grades as formal classifications. The class Reptilia (reptiles) is a grade since it includes dinosaurs but not birds, even though birds are descended from dinosaurs. Compare clade.


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Idioms & Phrases

grade

see make the grade.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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