gradient
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
A rate of inclination or declination of a slope.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
graydeeuhntSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡɹeɪdiənt
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.
noun
A rate of inclination or declination of a slope.
sciences
A graded change in the magnitude of some physical quantity or dimension
sciences
The rate at which a physical quantity increases or decreases relative to change in a given variable, especially distance.
A slope or incline.
A gradual change in color; a color gradient; gradation.
adjective
Rising or descending by regular degrees of inclination.
Moving by steps; walking.
Adapted for walking, as the feet of certain birds.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A rate of inclination or declination of a slope.
Used this way, gradient is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A gradient in concentration of a solute as a function of distance through a solution.
A gradient in the gravitational forces acting on different parts of a nonspherical object.
Change in temperature as a function of distance (especially altitude).
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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.