grade

Etymology

Borrowed from French grade (“a grade, degree”), from Latin gradus (“a step, pace, degree”), from Proto-Italic *graðus, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰradʰ-, *gʰredʰ- (“to walk, go”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌹𐌸𐍃 (griþs, “step, grade”), Bavarian Gritt (“step, stride”), Lithuanian grìdiju (“to go, wander”).

noun

1. A rating.
   This fine-grade coin from 1837 is worth a good amount.
   I gave him a good grade for effort.
2. (chiefly Canada, US) Performance 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.
   You need a grade of at least 80% in first-year calculus to be admitted to the CS major program.
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 2014-03-17
4. (linguistics) Degree (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.
6. (Canada, US, education) A level of primary and secondary education.
   Clancy is entering the fifth grade this year.
   Clancy starts grade five this year.
7. (Canada, education) A 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. (mathematics) A gradian.
11. (geometry) In 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. (systematics) A taxon united by a level of morphological or physiological complexity that is not a clade.
14. (medicine) The degree of malignity of a tumor expressed on a scale.
15. (ophthalmology, Philippines) An eyeglass prescription.

verb

1. (chiefly Canada, US) To 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
   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. (sewing) To 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 apply classifying labels to data (typically by a manual rather than automatic process).
   Brain scans were graded on a five-point scale of atrophy.
6. (linguistics) To 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, page 65
   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, 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, page 82
7. (intransitive) To 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
8. (Canada, no longer current, intransitive) To pass from one school grade into the next.
   I graded out of grade two and three and arrived in Miss Hanson's room.