DEGREE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does degree mean? 

• DEGREE (noun)
  The noun DEGREE has 7 senses:

1. a position on a scale of intensity or amount or quality

2. a specific identifiable position in a continuum or series or especially in a process

3. an award conferred by a college or university signifying that the recipient has satisfactorily completed a course of study

4. a measure for arcs and angles

5. the highest power of a term or variable

6. a unit of temperature on a specified scale

7. the seriousness of something (e.g., a burn or crime)

  Familiarity information: DEGREE used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEGREE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A position on a scale of intensity or amount or quality

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

degree; grade; level

Context example:

it is all a matter of degree

Hypernyms ("degree" is a kind of...):

property (a basic or essential attribute shared by all members of a class)

Attribute:

high (greater than normal in degree or intensity or amount)

intense (possessing or displaying a distinctive feature to a heightened degree)

mild (moderate in type or degree or effect or force; far from extreme)

low (less than normal in degree or intensity or amount)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "degree"):

intensity; intensiveness (high level or degree; the property of being intense)

caliber; calibre; quality (a degree or grade of excellence or worth)

SPF; sun protection factor (the degree to which a sunscreen protects the skin from the direct rays of the sun)

immoderateness; immoderation (the quality of being excessive and lacking in moderation)

moderateness; moderation (quality of being moderate and avoiding extremes)

amplitude level (the level on a scale of amplitude)

extreme (the furthest or highest degree of something)

lowness (a low or small degree of any quality (amount or force or temperature etc.))

low (a low level or position or degree)

high (a lofty level or position or degree)

highness (a high degree (of amount or force etc.))

depth (degree of psychological or intellectual profundity)

grind (the grade of particle fineness to which a substance is ground)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A specific identifiable position in a continuum or series or especially in a process

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

degree; level; point; stage

Context example:

at what stage are the social sciences?

Hypernyms ("degree" is a kind of...):

state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "degree"):

climax (the most severe stage of a disease)

quickening (the stage of pregnancy at which the mother first feels the movements of the fetus)

ultimacy; ultimateness (the state or degree of being ultimate; the final or most extreme in degree or size or time or distance)

state of the art (the highest degree of development of an art or technique at a particular time)

plane (a level of existence or development)

living standards; standard of life; standard of living (a level of material comfort in terms of goods and services available to someone or some group)

end point; resultant (the final point in a process)

extent (the point or degree to which something extends)

acme; elevation; height; meridian; peak; pinnacle; summit; superlative; tiptop; top (the highest level or degree attainable; the highest stage of development)

ladder (ascending stages by which somebody or something can progress)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An award conferred by a college or university signifying that the recipient has satisfactorily completed a course of study

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

academic degree; degree

Context example:

he earned his degree at Princeton summa cum laude

Hypernyms ("degree" is a kind of...):

accolade; award; honor; honour; laurels (a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "degree"):

honorary degree; honoris causa (a degree conferred to honor the recipient)

law degree (degree conferred on someone who successfully completes law school)

honours; honours degree (a university degree with honors)

doctor's degree; doctorate (one of the highest earned academic degrees conferred by a university)

baccalaureate; bachelor's degree (an academic degree conferred on someone who has successfully completed undergraduate studies)

associate; associate degree (a degree granted by a two-year college on successful completion of the undergraduates course of studies)

master's degree (an academic degree higher than a bachelor's degree but lower than a doctor's degree)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A measure for arcs and angles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

arcdegree; degree

Context example:

there are 360 degrees in a circle

Hypernyms ("degree" is a kind of...):

angular unit (a unit of measurement for angles)

Meronyms (parts of "degree"):

arcminute; minute; minute of arc (a unit of angular distance equal to a 60th of a degree)

Holonyms ("degree" is a part of...):

oxtant (a unit of angular distance equal to half a quadrant)

sextant (a unit of angular distance equal to 60 degrees)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The highest power of a term or variable

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("degree" is a kind of...):

exponent; index; power (a mathematical notation indicating the number of times a quantity is multiplied by itself)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "degree"):

degree of a term (the sum of the exponents of the variables in the term)

degree of a polynomial (the degree of the term in the polynomial that has the highest degree)

first degree (a degree of one)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A unit of temperature on a specified scale

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Context example:

the game was played in spite of the 40-degree temperature

Hypernyms ("degree" is a kind of...):

temperature unit (a unit of measurement for temperature)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "degree"):

C; degree Celsius; degree centigrade (a degree on the centigrade scale of temperature)

degree Fahrenheit; F (a degree on the Fahrenheit scale of temperature)

Sense 7

Meaning:

The seriousness of something (e.g., a burn or crime)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

a second degree burn

Hypernyms ("degree" is a kind of...):

magnitude (the property of relative size or extent (whether large or small))

 Context examples 

This made me reflect, how vain an attempt it is for a man to endeavour to do himself honour among those who are out of all degree of equality or comparison with him.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

This eclipse will fall at 4-degrees Capricorn.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Having gained her degree, she was doing no more studying; and he, having worked all vitality out of his mind and body, was doing no writing.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

True, Wolf Larsen possessed intellect to an unusual degree, but it was directed solely to the exercise of his savage instincts and made him but the more formidable a savage.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

As yet, she cannot even be certain of the degree of her own regard nor of its reasonableness.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at all.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

By degrees, however, his sorrow grew less, and although at times he still grieved over his loss, he was able to go about as usual, and later on he married again.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

You claim the privilege of reason in the highest degree, since you seek to impress us with your complete reasonableness.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

You must have become in some degree attached to the house,—you, who have an eye for natural beauties, and a good deal of the organ of Adhesiveness?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She could only compare Mr Elliot to Lady Russell, in the wish of really comprehending what had passed, and in the degree of concern for what she must have suffered in witnessing it.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)