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   De·gree

   /dəˈɡrē/

   

   noun

   • 1. the amount, level, or extent to which something happens or is present: "a degree of caution is probably wise" Similar levelstagepointrungstandardgradegradationmarkamountextentmeasuremagnitudeintensitystrengthproportionratio
   • 2. a unit of measurement of angles, one three-hundred-and-sixtieth of the circumference of a circle: "set at an angle of 45 degrees"
   • 3. a unit in any of various scales of temperature, intensity, or hardness: "water boils at 100 degrees Celsius"
   • ▪ each of a set of grades (usually three) used to classify burns according to their severity.
   • ▪ a legal grade of crime or offense, especially murder: "second-degree murder"
   • ▪ a step in direct genealogical descent: "second-degree relatives"
   • ▪ a position in a musical scale, counting upward from the tonic or fundamental note: "the lowered third degree of the scale"
   • ▪ the class into which an equation falls according to the highest power of unknowns or variables present: "an equation of the second degree"
   • ▪ any of the three steps on the scale of comparison of gradable adjectives and adverbs, namely positive, comparative, and superlative.
   • ▪ a thing placed like a step in a series; a tier or row. archaic
   • 4. an academic rank conferred by a college or university after examination or after completion of a course of study, or conferred as an honor on a distinguished person: "a degree in zoology"
   • ▪ a rank in an order of Freemasonry.
   • 5. social or official rank: archaic "persons of unequal degree" Similar social classsocial statusrankstanding/position in societydated:stationarchaic:estatecondition

   Word Origin Middle English (in the senses ‘step’, ‘tier’, ‘rank’, or ‘relative state’): from Old French, based on Latin de- ‘down’ + gradus ‘step or grade’.

   Derivatives

   • 1. degreeless adjective

   Scrabble Points: 8

   • D

     2

   • E

     1

   • G

     2

   • R

     1

   • E

     1

   • E

     1

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