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grading

 [greyd]   Origin

grade

   [greyd] noun, verb, grad·ed, grad·ing.
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.
EXPAND
6.
grades, elementary school (usually preceded 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. grad2.
COLLAPSE
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.
EXPAND
18.
to cross (an ordinary or low-grade animal) with an animal of a pure or superior breed.
COLLAPSE

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Grading is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...
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; < French: office < Latin gradus step, stage, degree, derivative of gradī to go, step, walk

Related forms
mis·grade, verb, -grad·ed, -grad·ing.
mis·grad·ed, adjective
mul·ti·grade, adjective
o·ver·grade, verb (used with object), -grad·ed, -grad·ing.
pre·grade, verb (used with object), -grad·ed, -grad·ing, noun
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re·grade, verb (used with object), -grad·ed, -grad·ing.
un·grad·ed, adjective
well-grad·ed, adjective
COLLAPSE

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To grading
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

grade
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,"
EXPAND
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.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
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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