grade
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Performance on a test or other evaluation, expressed by a number, letter, or other symbol.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
graydIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡɹeɪd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
chiefly canadaus
To assign scores to the components of an academic test, or to overall academic performance.
To flatten, level, or smooth a large surface, especially with a grader.
intransitive
To pass imperceptibly from one grade into another.
To apply classifying labels to data (typically by a manual rather than automatic process).
To organize in grades.
noun
chiefly canadausphilippines
Performance on a test or other evaluation(s), expressed by a number, letter, or other symbol; a score.
A number or letter indicating quality (especially of a student's performance)
A rating.
A degree of ablaut
A degree or level of something; a position within a scale; a degree of quality.
The gradient of a slope or road or other surface
“The road had a steep grade.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To assign scores to the components of an academic test, or to overall academic performance.
Used this way, grade is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in academic writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Academic writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use grade
- “The road had a steep grade.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The act of arranging in a graduated series.
A judge who assigns grades to something.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The successful completion of a program of study.
Relative position in a graded series.
Proceeding in small stages.
In a gradual manner.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A school for young children.
A crossing that uses an underpass or overpass.
Intersection of a railway and a road on the same level.
V-shaped sleeve badge indicating military rank and service.
A numerical value assigned to a letter grade received in a course taken at a college or university multiplied by the number of credit hours awarded for the course.
A measure of a student's academic achievement at a college or university.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A graded change in the magnitude of some physical quantity or dimension.
An opposition that is capable of being graded.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.