degree
Pluraldegrees
- 1An award you get from a college or university after finishing your studies.
Like a medal you receive for finishing a long race of studying.
She earned a degree in nursing last year.
He went back to school to finish his degree.
UsageSay a degree in a subject, and a bachelor's degree or a master's degree.
Note
- 2How much of something there is, or the level of a quality.
Like turning a dial up or down to show how much there is.
She felt a high degree of stress before the exam.
There was some degree of confusion about the new rules.
UsageOften in to some degree and a high degree of something.
Similarextent, level, amount, measure, intensity
Note
- 3A unit used to measure how hot or cold something is.
Like marks on a ruler, but measuring heat instead of length.
Water boils at one hundred degrees on the Celsius scale.
The temperature dropped by one degree overnight.
UsageSay 30 degrees Celsius, with the scale name right after degrees.
Note
- 4A unit for measuring angles, and for giving the position of places on the earth. A full circle has 360.
Like slices of a pizza cut into 360 tiny pieces.
Turn the handle ninety degrees to the right.
Rotate the shape by one degree and the change is hard to see.
UsageBefore a noun, use -degree with a hyphen: a 90-degree turn.
Note
- 5How serious a crime, burn or injury is, named by number: first, second, third and so on.
The man was found guilty of robbery in the second degree.
She got third-degree burns on her arm in the kitchen fire.
UsageSay third-degree burns, or a crime in the second degree.
Similargrade
Note
- 6
- 7The place of a note in a music scale, counted up from the first and most important note.
In the key of C, the note G is the fifth degree of the scale.
Our teacher asked us to sing each degree of the scale slowly, from bottom to top.
Note
Less common meanings
- 8A person's rank or place in society.
Like the different floors of a tall building, with some higher than others.
In the old song, a poor boy loves a lady of high degree.
In the fairy tale, the prince marries a girl of low degree.
UsageYou see it in of high degree and of low degree, in old stories.
Similarrank, status, standing, station, class
Note
- 9A step in a family tree that shows how closely people are related.
Like counting the steps between two people on a family tree.
A grandchild is related to a grandparent in the second degree.
Parents and their children are relatives of the first degree.
UsageIt often comes with a number: a first-degree relative.
Note
- 10One of the forms an adjective or adverb takes to compare things, like 'big', 'bigger', and 'biggest'.
Like the sizes small, medium, and large on a drink menu.
The comparative degree of 'fast' is 'faster'.
English adjectives have three degrees of comparison.
UsageSay the comparative degree or the superlative degree.
Note
- 11The highest power in a math expression, like the 2 in x². For terms with several letters, add their powers.
The expression x³ has a degree of three.
A straight-line equation has a degree of one.
UsageYou often see of degree plus a number: of degree 2.
Note
- 12Someone's state, condition, or way of being.
If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.
1851, Herman Melville, Moby-DickHere, degree means their own way or situation in life.Note
- 13In graph math, the number of lines that meet at a point.
- 14A way of measuring how sharply a curved road or track bends.
- 15In higher math, a measure of how much bigger one number system is than the one inside it.
- 16In logic, the count of joining words like 'and', 'or', or 'not' in a statement.
- 17A step on a set of stairs, or a rung on a ladder.
Practice
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Origin
This word came from an old French word "degré," which came from Latin "gradus."
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- English degree came from Old French degré. en.wiktionary.org
- Old French degré came from Latin gradus. en.wiktionary.org