n.
Pronunciation: di- ' gr ē
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French degré, from Vulgar Latin *degradus, from Latin de- + gradus
Date: 13th century
1 : a step or stage in a process, course, or order of classification <advanced by degree s >
2 a : a rank or grade of official, ecclesiastical, or social position <people of low degree > b archaic : a particular standing especially as to dignity or worth c : the civil condition or status of a person
3 : a step in a direct line of descent or in the line of ascent to a common ancestor
4 a obsolete : STEP , STAIR b archaic : a member of a series arranged in steps
5 : a measure of damage to tissue caused by injury or disease ― compare FIRST-DEGREE BURN , SECOND-DEGREE BURN , THIRD-DEGREE BURN
6 a : the extent, measure, or scope of an action, condition, or relation <different in degree but not in kind> b : relative intensity <a high degree of stress> c : one of the forms or sets of forms used in the comparison of an adjective or adverb d : a legal measure of guilt or negligence <found guilty of robbery in the first degree >
7 a : a title conferred on students by a college, university, or professional school on completion of a program of study b : a grade of membership attained in a ritualistic order or society c : an academic title conferred to honor distinguished achievement or service d : the formal ceremonies observed in the conferral of such a distinction
8 : a unit of measure for angles equal to an angle with its vertex at the center of a circle and its sides cutting off 1/360 of the circumference also : a unit of measure for arcs of a circle equal to the amount of arc that subtends a central angle of one degree
9 archaic : a position or space on the earth or in the heavens as measured by degrees of latitude
10 a : a step, note, or tone of a musical scale b : a line or space of the musical staff
11 : one of the divisions or intervals marked on a scale of a measuring instrument specifically : any of various units for measuring temperature
12 a : the sum of the exponents of the variables in the term of highest degree in a polynomial, polynomial function, or polynomial equation b : the sum of the exponents of the variable factors of a monomial c : the greatest power of the derivative of highest order in a differential equation after the equation has been rationalized and cleared of fractions with respect to the derivative
– de · greed \ - ' gr ē d \ adjective
– to a degree
1 : to a remarkable extent : EXCEEDINGLY <I felt desolate to a degree ― Charlotte Brontë>
2 : in a small way < to a degree he succeeded>
degree 8