to the nth degree

Idioms & Phrases

to the nth degree

To the utmost, as in They'd decked out the house to the nth degree. This expression comes from mathematics, where to the nth means "to any required power" (n standing for any number). It was first recorded in 1852.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature