degree: meaning and definitions

One of a series of steps in a process, course, or progression; a stage: proceeded to the next degree of difficulty.

A step in a direct hereditary line of descent or ascent: First cousins are two degrees from their common ancestor.

Relative social or official rank, dignity, or position.

Relative intensity or amount, as of a quality or attribute: a high degree of accuracy.

The extent or measure of a state of being, an action, or a relation: modernized their facilities to a large degree.

A unit division of a temperature scale.

Mathematics A planar unit of angular measure equal in magnitude to 1/360 of a complete revolution.

A unit of latitude or longitude, equal to 1/360 of a great circle.

Mathematics The greatest sum of the exponents of the variables in a term of a polynomial or polynomial equation.

Mathematics The exponent of the derivative of highest order in a differential equation in standard form.

An academic title given by a college or university to a student who has completed a course of study: received the Bachelor of Arts degree at commencement.

A similar title conferred as an honorary distinction.

Law A division or classification of a specific crime according to its seriousness: murder in the second degree.

A classification of the severity of an injury, especially a burn: a third-degree burn.

Grammar One of the forms used in the comparison of adjectives and adverbs. For example, tall is the positive degree, taller the comparative degree, and tallest the superlative degree of the adjective tall.

Music One of the seven notes of a diatonic scale.

Music A space or line of the staff.

by degrees Little by little; gradually.

to a degree To a small extent; in a limited way: doesn't like spicy food, but can eat a little pepper to a degree.