I. ˈgrād noun
( -s )
Etymology: partly from Latin gradus step, degree; partly from French grade, from Latin gradus; akin to Latin gradi to step, go, Old Irish in- grenn- to pursue, Lithuanian gridyti to go, wander, and perhaps to Gothic grid (accusative) step
1.
a. : a stage in a process
passing through the grades of growing up
the highest grade of development of the brain
b. : a position or level in a course of advancement or decline or in a scale of ranks, qualities, or orders
the country gentlemen were of many different grades of wealth and culture — G.M.Trevelyan
a school of collegiate grade — Seton Hall University Bulletin
as
(1) : one of the successive levels of a usually elementary or secondary school course that usually represents a year's work
(2) : a military or naval rank
a naval officer with the grade of lieutenant commander
c. : a degree especially of force or value
the varying grades of success with which a poem attains its end — Samuel Alexander
as
(1) : a degree of strength of an abrasive bond
(2) : a relative value or content of an ore or mineral
high- grade and low- grade ore
(3) : a degree of severity in illness
the patient had a carcinoma of grade III
(4) : a degree of plant food content in fertilizer expressed in percentages of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash
(5) : a degree of purity or concentration (as of a chemical)
2.
a. : a class constituted by things that are at the same stage or have the same relative position, level, rank, or degree
the nobles were a higher grade of agriculturalists — John MacNeill
guilty of a very low grade of crime
especially : a body of elementary school pupils at any one established level of advancement
the fourth grade was allowed to leave school early
b. : a mark indicating a particular grade (as of a student's accomplishment in general or of a particular piece of work)
always got high grades in school
merited a grade of B on his composition
c. : a standard of quality applied to foods
prime- grade beef
first- grade potatoes
d. : a standard of quality established as acceptable
threw out all lumber that was below grade
3.
a. : a rate of ascent or descent (as of a railroad, highway, conduit, or ground surface) : gradient
a heavy grade
: deviation from a level surface to an inclined plane stated as so many feet per mile
a grade of 20 feet per mile
or as one foot rise or fall in so many feet of horizontal distance
a grade of 1 in 264
or as so much in a hundred feet or as a percentage of horizontal distance
a 10 percent grade is one of 10 feet to 100
b. : a graded ascending, descending, or level portion (as of a road, a railroad, or an embankment)
c. : level or elevation especially of a land or water surface: as
(1) : a datum or reference level
(2) : the contemplated level of the ground when the work of erecting a building is completed : ground level
the underpinning of the tower was above grade
(3) : elevation 1c
4.
[translation of German stufe ]
: any one of the phases of a root or of an affix that appear in an ablaut series and that are characterized by having different vowels : the characteristic vowel of such a phase
5. : a domestic animal one of whose parents is purebred and the other either a scrub or an animal containing a considerable proportion of the blood of the same breed as the purebred parent
6. grades plural : elementary school — used with the
taught in the grades for 10 years
7. : one of a series of patterns for clothing
8. : one of the three forms of braille ranging from the fully spelled to the highly contracted
•
- at grade
- make the grade
- over grade
- under grade
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. : to arrange in grades : divide into classes : class , sort : as
a. : to assign to a grade or assign a grade to
grade pupils according to their reading ability
grade lumber by its resistance to rot
spent an evening grading papers the class had turned in
b. : to classify (a food) according to quality, size, purity, or other appropriate standard
c. : to arrange in an increasing or decreasing graduated and usually proportional order (as of value, weight, intensity, difficulty) : graduate
purchased only graded reading material for use in the elementary grades
necessary to grade the weight of the hammers to correspond with the thickness of the strings — A.E.Wier
a graded inheritance tax
good works to be done in satisfaction for sins and graded according to the seriousness of the offense — K.S.Latourette
2. : to unite by evenly modulated or slight gradations : blend one shade of (as light or color) into another
3. : to reduce (as the line of a canal or roadbed) to an even grade whether on the level or in a progressive ascent or descent
offered to grade the remaining 26 miles of unfinished roadbed — American Guide Series: Texas
4. : to alter (a vowel) by ablaut or vowel gradation — used chiefly in the passive
5. : to improve (as native stock) by breeding the females to purebred males — often used with up
6. : to make (a working pattern) from a standard pattern for clothing : make (a standard pattern) into a working pattern for clothing — compare grader 3
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to form a gradation or a series having only slight differences
the colors graded gradually from red to orange to yellow
anthracite grades by imperceptible stages into bituminous coal — Encyc. Americana
interrelated plant communities which graded from one to another through orderly transitions — R.W.Finley
b. : blend
the colors graded into one another at the edges
any further attempt here to segregate the two would serve no purpose, for … the one inevitably grades into the other — W.H.Dowdeswell
2. : to proceed on an incline
grading slowly downward — R.L.Stevenson
3. : to be of or merit a particular grade
lambs grading choice to prime — Chicago Daily Drovers Journal
a story which grades too low in reader interest — Richard Match
III. adjective
1. : comprising the elementary grades : belonging to an elementary grade
a grade room
: teaching the elementary grades
a grade teacher
2. of a domestic animal : of improved but not pure stock — distinguished from crossbred and purebred ; compare scrub
IV. noun
( -s )
: a particular level of organization (as of a morphological trait) characteristic of a group of biological taxa ; also : a group of taxa (as species) that possess such a level of organization but do not necessarily share a common ancestral lineage — compare clade herein