degree

[De*gree·]

A unit of measurement, degree describes the level, intensity or seriousness of something. So that hot coffee may not have caused 3rd degree burns, but it still took a good degree of self control not to scream when you sipped it.

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A step, stair, or staircase.

Noun
a position on a scale of intensity or amount or quality; "a moderate degree of intelligence"; "a high level of care is required"; "it is all a matter of degree"

Noun
the seriousness of something (e.g., a burn or crime); "murder in the second degree"; "a second degree burn"

Noun
the highest power of a term or variable

Noun
an award conferred by a college or university signifying that the recipient has satisfactorily completed a course of study; "he earned his degree at Princeton summa cum laude"

Noun
a measure for arcs and angles; "there are 360 degrees in a circle"

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Noun
a unit of temperature on a specified scale; "the game was played in spite of the 40-degree temperature"

Noun
a specific identifiable position in a continuum or series or especially in a process; "a remarkable degree of frankness"; "at what stage are the social sciences?"

n.
A step, stair, or staircase.

n.
One of a series of progressive steps upward or downward, in quality, rank, acquirement, and the like; a stage in progression; grade; gradation; as, degrees of vice and virtue; to advance by slow degrees; degree of comparison.

n.
The point or step of progression to which a person has arrived; rank or station in life; position.

n.
Measure of advancement; quality; extent; as, tastes differ in kind as well as in degree.

n.
Grade or rank to which scholars are admitted by a college or university, in recognition of their attainments; as, the degree of bachelor of arts, master, doctor, etc.

n.
A certain distance or remove in the line of descent, determining the proximity of blood; one remove in the chain of relationship; as, a relation in the third or fourth degree.

n.
Three figures taken together in numeration; thus, 140 is one degree, 222,140 two degrees.

n.
State as indicated by sum of exponents; more particularly, the degree of a term is indicated by the sum of the exponents of its literal factors; thus, a2b3c is a term of the sixth degree. The degree of a power, or radical, is denoted by its index, that of an equation by the greatest sum of the exponents of the unknown quantities in any term; thus, ax4 + bx2 = c, and mx2y2 + nyx = p, are both equations of the fourth degree.

n.
A 360th part of the circumference of a circle, which part is taken as the principal unit of measure for arcs and angles. The degree is divided into 60 minutes and the minute into 60 seconds.

n.
A division, space, or interval, marked on a mathematical or other instrument, as on a thermometer.

n.
A line or space of the staff.

Degree

De*gree" , n. [F. degr'82, OF. degret, fr. LL. degradare. See Degrade.] 1. A step, stair, or staircase. [Obs.]
By ladders, or else by degree.
2. One of a series of progressive steps upward or downward, in quality, rank, acquirement, and the like; a stage in progression; grade; gradation; as, degrees of vice and virtue; to advance by slow degrees; degree of comparison. 3. The point or step of progression to which a person has arrived; rank or station in life; position. "A dame of high degree." Dryden. "A knight is your degree." Shak. "Lord or lady of high degree." Lowell. 4. Measure of advancement; quality; extent; as, tastes differ in kind as well as in degree.
The degree of excellence which proclaims genius, is different in different times and different places.
5. Grade or rank to which scholars are admitted by a college or university, in recognition of their attainments; as, the degree of bachelor of arts, master, doctor, etc. &hand; In the United States diplomas are usually given as the evidence of a degree conferred. In the humanities the first degree is that of bachelor of arts (B. A. or A. B.); the second that of master of arts (M. A. or A. M.). The degree of bachelor (of arts, science, divinity, law, etc.) is conferred upon those who complete a prescribed course of undergraduate study. The first degree in medicine is that of doctor of medicine (M. D.). The degrees of master and doctor are sometimes conferred, in course, upon those who have completed certain prescribed postgraduate studies, as doctor of philosophy (Ph. D.); but more frequently the degree of doctor is conferred as a complimentary recognition of eminent services in science or letters, or for public services or distinction (as doctor of laws (LL. D.) or doctor of divinity (D. D.), when they are called honorary degrees.
The youth attained his bachelor's degree, and left the university.
5. (Genealogy) A certain distance or remove in the line of descent, determining the proximity of blood; one remove in the chain of relationship; as, a relation in the third or fourth degree.
In the 11th century an opinion began to gain ground in Italy, that third cousins might marry, being in the seventh degree according to the civil law.
7. (Arith.) Three figures taken together in numeration; thus, 140 is one degree, 222,140 two degrees. 8. (Algebra) State as indicated by sum of exponents; more particularly, the degree of a term is indicated by the sum of the exponents of its literal factors; thus, a2b2c is a term of the sixth degree. The degree of a power, or radical, is denoted by its index, that of an equation by the greatest sum of the exponents of the unknown quantities in any term; thus, ax4 + bx2 = c, and mx2y2 + nyx = p, are both equations of the fourth degree. 9. (Trig.) A 360th part of the circumference of a circle, which part is taken as the principal unit of measure for arcs and angles. The degree is divided into 60 minutes and the minute into 60 seconds. 10. A division, space, or interval, marked on a mathematical or other instrument, as on a thermometer. 11. (Mus.) A line or space of the staff. &hand; The short lines and their spaces are added degrees. Accumulation of degrees. (Eng. Univ.) See under Accumulation. -- By degrees, step by step; by little and little; by moderate advances. "I 'll leave by degrees." Shak. -- Degree of a curve ∨ surface (Geom.), the number which expresses the degree of the equation of the curve or surface in rectilinear co'94rdinates. A straight line will, in general, meet the curve or surface in a number of points equal to the degree of the curve or surface and no more. -- Degree of latitude (Geog.), on the earth, the distance on a meridian between two parallels of latitude whose latitudes differ from each other by one degree. This distance is not the same on different parts of a meridian, on account of the flattened figure of the earth, being 68.702 statute miles at the equator, and 69.396 at the poles. -- Degree of longitude, the distance on a parallel of latitude between two meridians that make an angle of one degree with each other at the poles -- a distance which varies as the cosine of the latitude, being at the equator 69.16 statute miles. -- To a degree, to an extreme; exceedingly; as, mendacious to a degree.
It has been said that Scotsmen . . . are . . . grave to a degree on occasions when races more favored by nature are gladsome to excess.

A step, stair, or staircase.

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Usage Examples

Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.

All anger is not sinful, because some degree of it, and on some occasions, is inevitable. But it becomes sinful and contradicts the rule of Scripture when it is conceived upon slight and inadequate provocation, and when it continues long.

An art whose medium is language will always show a high degree of critical creativeness, for speech is itself a critique of life: it names, it characterizes, it passes judgment, in that it creates.

A degree of lying - you know, white lies - seems to be inherent in all languages and all forms of communication.

All literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool. The reader will like the book to the degree that he agrees with the writer about what's cool.

'Friends' was an education in intelligent comedic banter in intelligent vernacular. It was an education in scene study. It was an education in group dynamic. I came out of there with a master's degree in comedy.

A constitutional democracy is in serious trouble if its citizenry does not have a certain degree of education and civic virtue.

Misspelled Form

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Other Usage Examples

And to get real work experience, you need a job, and most jobs will require you to have had either real work experience or a graduate degree.

An open society is a society which allows its members the greatest possible degree of freedom in pursuing their interests compatible with the interests of others.

A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.

All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.

Any kind of anthemic song, for the most part, they're on the positive side of things. It's not hard to identify when a melody is just one degree too complicated or one degree too simple and where that line of pop memorability lies.

An error is the more dangerous in proportion to the degree of truth which it contains.

All women's issues are to some degree men's issues and all men's issues are to some degree women's issues because when either sex wins unilaterally both sexes lose.