grade

noun
\ ˈgrād How to pronounce grade (audio) \

Definition of grade

 (Entry 1 of 4)

1a : a level of study in an elementary, middle, or secondary school that is completed by a student during one year will enter eleventh grade this year students in the second grade
b : the students in the same year of study in elementary, middle, or secondary school The ninth grade is away on a field trip.
c(1) : a position in a scale of ranks or qualities Each grade of steel contains sub-divisions corresponding to steels of different yield stress and impact requirements.— G. D. Taylor
(2) : a stage in a process … we should bear in mind that animals displaying early transitional grades of the structure will seldom continue to exist to the present day, for they will have been supplanted by the very process of perfection through natural selection.— Charles Darwin
d : a degree of severity in illness grade III carcinoma
e : a military or naval rank To be prepared for burial Claggart's body was delivered to certain petty-officers of his mess. And … the Master-at-arms was committed to the sea with every funeral honor properly belonging to his naval grade.— Herman Melville … her father being a country clergyman who had never reached a higher grade than that of an archdeacon …— Anthony Trollope
2a : a mark indicating a degree of accomplishment in school earned good grades in school What was your grade on the math test?
b : a class of things of the same stage or degree
c : a standard of food quality Extra-virgin is the highest grade of olive oil.— Lisa McManus
3a : the degree of inclination of a road or slope … one track went straight up the steep hill, the other one turned square off to the right, with a very slight grade.— Mark Twain also : a sloping road The car … toiled up the long, long grades, past Ash Fork, towards Flagstaff, where the forests and quarries are, under the dry, remote skies. — Rudyard Kipling
b : a datum or reference level especially : ground level
4 : a domestic animal with one parent purebred and the other of inferior breeding
5 [translation of German Stufe] linguistics : any of the variants of a root or affix (distinguished by a particular vowel or the absence of any vowel) in the ablaut series of an Indo-European language
6 grades plural : the elementary school system

grade

verb
graded; grading

Definition of grade (Entry 2 of 4)

transitive verb

1a : to assign to a grade or assign a grade to … Mrs. Granger would be the one grading their spelling tests and their reading tests …— Andrew Clements … these students are being graded by the instructor whose methods or information they have reason to question.— Mary Lefkowitz
b : to arrange in grades : sort Each printing plant sends sample copies of its press run to the color lab, where they are graded for quality.— Robert Neuwirth
c : to arrange in a scale or series
2 : to level off to a smooth horizontal or sloping surface The ground should be graded to direct water flow away from the home.Consumer Reports

intransitive verb

1a : to form a series
b : blend Notice that the mud and the sand grade into each other along the sandbar.— Sheldon Judson and Marvin E. Kauffman
2 : to be of a particular grade

grade

adjective

Definition of grade (Entry 3 of 4)

: being, involving, or yielding domestic animals of improved but not pure stock grade ewes grade breeding

Definition of -grade (Entry 4 of 4)

: walking plantigrade

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Other Words from grade

Noun

gradeless \ ˈgrād-​ləs How to pronounce -grade (audio) \ adjective

Verb

gradable \ ˈgrā-​də-​bəl How to pronounce -grade (audio) \ adjective

Examples of grade in a Sentence

Noun The fifth grade will perform their annual play this week. a grade of 90 percent or better Her grades are up this semester. an expensive grade of leather Verb Students will be graded on their reading ability. She hasn't finished grading the exams. How would you grade your meal on a scale from one to five? The eggs are graded according to size.
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Recent Examples on the Web: Noun In technical terms, the grade of a road is its vertical location with respect to the ground surface, measured typically via the tangent of the angle of that surface to the horizontal. Lance Eliot, Forbes, "Precipice Edginess When A Self-Driving Car Drives Down A Super-Steep Slope Like These Top Ten U.S. Vertical-Drop Streets," 17 Apr. 2021 Vinton continues consulting and designing for the new owners, while Sara teaches second grade in a North County public school. Nicole Sours Larson, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Beach-loving family lives small while living large in Carlsbad mobile home," 17 Apr. 2021 The Biden administration released state-by-state assessments of infrastructure giving Connecticut a C- grade overall. Russell Blair, courant.com, "Connecticut Politics Week in Review: Legal marijuana bill in jeopardy over equity concerns," 16 Apr. 2021 Pro Football Focus gave Davis a grade of 82.6 for his 2019 season, with no sacks or hits allowed on 459 pass block snaps. Nathan Baird, cleveland, "Will Ohio State football’s Wyatt Davis, healthy after a season of secret pain, make an immediate NFL impact?," 15 Apr. 2021 At least nine states – Arkansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming – received no grade at all. Christen Smith, Washington Examiner, "White House report grades Pennsylvania infrastructure C-," 15 Apr. 2021 Plan to use the edger sander and orbital sander in tandem to ensure consistency throughout the wood, working a little bit at a time with the same grade of sandpaper in both tools. Michael Phillips, chicagotribune.com, "Watch this. Eat that: The best takeout for a ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ takedown," 15 Apr. 2021 The latest plan includes a museum but would mark the site’s footprint with surface pavers and landscaping, rather than by lowering the grade. Scott Huddleston, San Antonio Express-News, "Alamo primer: What to know about the latest Alamo plan," 15 Apr. 2021 Although playing into a first-round grade was a goal this past season for Petty and Alabama, that likely did not happen. Mike Rodak | Mrodak@al.com, al, "Nate Oats expects Alabama underclassmen to get NBA feedback, but no seniors back," 14 Apr. 2021 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb With that in mind, Popovich is willing to grade his team’s defensive performance on a curve. Jeff Mcdonald, San Antonio Express-News, "Spurs hope Cavs prove the fix for their malfunctioning defense," 4 Apr. 2021 Teller is the first Browns player since Joe Thomas in 2015 to grade above 90 in offense or defense. Scott Patsko, cleveland, "Cleveland Browns at midseason: 3 things we didn’t expect to see," 12 Nov. 2020 At the site of the bluff collapse just south of Fourth Street in Del Mar, the San Diego Association of Governments has hired a contractor to grade the top of the bluff, where large cracks have appeared since the Feb. 28 collapse. Phil Diehl, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Bluff repairs could restrict beach access," 13 Mar. 2021 Naudet says asking readers blinded to the status of the journals to grade a subset of the papers could shed light on that question. Cathleen O’grady, Science | AAAS, "Journals singled out for favoritism," 25 Feb. 2021 But the agency also only has data on the race and ethnicity of around 53% of the people who have received a dose, hampering efforts to grade outreach to the Black and Latino communities hit hardest by the virus. Alexander Tin, CBS News, "U.S. reaches COVID-19 vaccine milestone of 100 million shots," 13 Mar. 2021 Have the students teach the class (and grade their work). Washington Post, "A teacher’s pandemic dilemma: Struggling students and a state-mandated test on the horizon," 3 Mar. 2021 Rich Exner examined data on 15 benchmarks that could be used to grade Joe Biden going forward, and how past presidents did on these measures. cleveland, "Dark money group at the center of Ohio House Bill 6 scandal to plead guilty: Capitol Letter," 8 Feb. 2021 Test results are used to grade schools in their performance, and in some cases, teachers. Liz Bowie, baltimoresun.com, "Maryland schools chief recommends statewide testing resume this spring, with reduced exams," 22 Feb. 2021 Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective This pro-grade pan from Greenpan is nontoxic and nonstick — an ideal combo — and is built to last. Krystin Arneson, CNN Underscored, "Shop discounted designer styles for all seasons at Nordstrom’s Spring Sale," 1 Apr. 2021 In Sydney's multi-grade classroom, teacher Toni Sudduth, a classroom assistant and the 15 students practice social distancing and wear masks even when outside. USA Today, "Students are struggling to read behind masks and screens during COVID, but ‘expectations are no different’," 7 Mar. 2021 The pro-grade sweeper will change your cleaning game with its six-blade technology. Popular Science, "Check out these deals on household cleaning appliances," 21 Jan. 2021 The opener had a full line of vehicles for the first of its type event – a multi-grade level fine and performing arts holiday showcase. Karie Angell Luc, chicagotribune.com, "‘Wonderfest’ featured drive-by holiday performances by students, light show at Barrington High School: ‘It’s a new adventure’," 14 Dec. 2020 Aspire 5 is Acer's mid-grade, traditional clamshell laptop line. Jim Salter, Ars Technica, "New laptops announced at Acer Next 2020 feature Intel Tiger Lake," 22 Oct. 2020 In some places, economics may still warrant elevating ground, redevelopment of sub-grade infrastructure, and making streets porous. Bill Mckibben, The New Yorker, "The Most Important Global Forecast That You’ve Never Heard Of," 14 Oct. 2020 District officials noted that the majority of Gwinnett students now take the Algebra End Of Course exam in place of the eighth grade math End Of Grade test and those results are not included in the calculation. Eric Stirgus, ajc, "Five takeaways from Gwinnett County’s Georgia Milestones results," 20 July 2017 Grade school camps are $75 and high school camps are $125. Aurora Beacon-News, "Shakespeare in the Park set in Geneva," 10 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'grade.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of grade

Noun

1796, in the meaning defined at sense 1c(2)

Verb

1659, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1b

Adjective

1852, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for grade

Noun, Verb, and Adjective

Latin gradus step, degree, from Latin gradi to step, go; akin to Lithuanian gridyti to go, wander

Adjective combining form

French, from Latin -gradus, from gradi

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Learn More about grade

Statistics for grade

Last Updated

20 Apr 2021

Cite this Entry

“Grade.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grade. Accessed 21 Apr. 2021.

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More Definitions for grade

grade

noun

English Language Learners Definition of grade

 (Entry 1 of 2)

: a level of study that is completed by a student during one year
: the students in the same year of study at a school
: a number or letter that indicates how a student performed in a class or on a test

grade

verb

English Language Learners Definition of grade (Entry 2 of 2)

chiefly US : to give a grade to (a student or a student's work)
: to give a rating to (something)
: to separate (things) into groups or classes according to a particular quality

grade

noun
\ ˈgrād How to pronounce grade (audio) \

Kids Definition of grade

 (Entry 1 of 2)

1 : a division of a school course representing a year's work He's in the fourth grade.
2 : the group of pupils in a school grade Fifth grade is holding a bake sale.
3 : a mark or rating especially in school I got a grade of A on the test.
4 : a position in a scale of rank, quality, or order a social grade
5 : a class of things that are of the same rank, quality, or order A … hide was worth from four to ten dollars, depending on the grade and quality.— Wilson Rawls, Where the Red Fern Grows
6 : the degree of slope (as of a road)

grade

verb
graded; grading

Kids Definition of grade (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : to give a grade to as an indication of achievement The teacher graded my report a B.
2 : to give a rating to I'd grade the movie a ten.
3 : to arrange in grades according to some quality The eggs were graded by size.
4 : to make level or evenly sloping grade a highway

grade

noun
\ ˈgrād How to pronounce grade (audio) \

Medical Definition of grade

: a degree of severity of a disease or abnormal condition a grade III carcinoma

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More from Merriam-Webster on grade

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for grade

Nglish: Translation of grade for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of grade for Arabic Speakers

Comments on grade

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