grade

plural grades

1. A rating.

   prime grade beef

   1 more example

   This fine-grade coin from 1837 is worth a good amount.

2. CanadaPhilippinesUSPerformance on a test or other evaluation(s), expressed by a number, letter, or other symbol; a score.

   He got a good grade on the test.

   2 more examples

   I gave him a good grade for effort.

   You need a grade of at least 80% in first-year calculus to be admitted to the CS major program.

   Synonyms: mark

3. A degree or level of something; a position within a scale; a degree of quality.

   There are a lot of varieties of diatomaceous earth, so when you are shopping, be sure to get the right stuff! Make sure that you get food grade diatomaceous earth. Some people make 3% of the food they eat be diatomaceous earth.

   1986–2012, paul wheaton permaculture, “Diatomaceous Earth (food grade): bug killer you can eat!”, in richsoil.com, retrieved 17 Mar 2014

4. human sciencesDegree (any of the three stages (positive, comparative, superlative) in the comparison of an adjective or an adverb).
5. A slope (up or down) of a roadway or other passage

   The grade of this hill is more than 5 percent.

   1 more example

   The incline can be altered to any grade so as to suit the weight of the door or gate to which the butt is attached.

   1847, editorial staff, “Improved Adjustable Incline Door and Gate Butt”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 68

   Synonyms: gradient

6. CanadaPhilippinesUSeducationA level of primary and secondary education.

   Clancy starts grade five this year.

   1 more example

   Clancy is entering the fifth grade this year.

7. CanadaeducationA student of a particular grade (used with the grade level).

   The grade fives are on a field trip.

8. An area that has been flattened by a grader (construction machine).
9. The level of the ground.

   This material absorbs moisture and is probably not a good choice for use below grade.

10. mathematicsA gradian.
11. geometryIn a linear system of divisors on an n-dimensional variety, the number of free intersection points of n generic divisors.
12. A harsh scraping or cutting; a grating.

    The whistle of the shot as it cuts the leaves / Of the maples around the church’s eaves— / And the grade of hatchets, fiercely thrown, / On wigwam-log, and tree, and stone.

    1836, John Greenleaf Whittier, Mogg Megone, A Poem, →OCLC

13. systematicsA taxon united by a level of morphological or physiological complexity that is not a clade.

    Synonyms: paraphyletic group

14. medicineThe degree of malignity of a tumor expressed on a scale.
15. PhilippinesmedicineAn eyeglass prescription.

present singular third person grades · participle present grading · participle past graded · past graded

1. CanadaUSTo assign scores to the components of an academic test, or to overall academic performance.
2. To organize in grades.

   a graded reader

3. To flatten, level, or smooth a large surface, especially with a grader.

   to grade land before building on it

   1 more example

   The shoulders are graded and the verges cleared well back to lessen the chances of hitting stray stock.

   2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 129

4. businessTo remove or trim part of a seam allowance from a finished seam so as to reduce bulk and make the finished piece more even when turned right side out.
5. To increase or decrease the dimensions of a garment pattern from the initial base size in such a way that the overall proportions of the silhouette are maintained across all sizes.
6. To apply classifying labels to data (typically by a manual rather than automatic process).

   Brain scans were graded on a five-point scale of atrophy.

7. human sciencesTo describe, modify or inflect so as to classify as to degree.

   He has rightly observed that while -ísimo superlatives are typically prenominal, adjectives graded with the intensifier muy "very" are characteristically postnominal.

   1999, Jon Franco, Alazne Landa, Juan Martín, Grammatical Analyses in Basque and Romance Linguistics: Papers in Honor of Mario Saltarelli, John Benjamins Publishing, →ISBN, page 65

   2 more examples

   Adjectives graded for comparative and superlative degree can function both attributively and predicatively. Most descriptive adjectives are gradable: As modifiers of a noun Have you got a larger size? […]

   2014, Angela Downing, English Grammar: A University Course, Routledge, →ISBN, page 430

   Similarly to the Hungarian adjectives graded with the suffix -ik, in place of naj, najto, or, in agreement with the noun, -najte, -najta, -najto forms occur, e.g., najtolepsi or najtelepsi, najtelepsa, najtelepse 'most beautiful'.

   2020, Prekmurje Slovene Grammar: Avgust Pavel’s Vend nyelvtan (1942), BRILL, →ISBN, page 82

8. intransitiveTo pass imperceptibly from one grade into another.

   And there were circles even beyond these – […] humanity grading and drifting beyond the educated vision, until no earthly invitation can embrace it.

   1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 34

9. CanadadatedintransitiveTo pass from one school grade into the next.

   I graded out of grade two and three and arrived in Miss Hanson's room.