Lexic.us

Definition of Degree

1. Noun. A position on a scale of intensity or amount or quality. "It is all a matter of degree"

2. Noun. A specific identifiable position in a continuum or series or especially in a process. "At what stage are the social sciences?"

3. 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"

4. Noun. A measure for arcs and angles. "There are 360 degrees in a circle"

5. Noun. The highest power of a term or variable.

6. Noun. A unit of temperature on a specified scale. "The game was played in spite of the 40-degree temperature"

7. Noun. The seriousness of something (e.g., a burn or crime). "A second degree burn"

Definition of Degree

1. n. A step, stair, or staircase.

Definition of Degree

1. Noun. (obsolete except heraldry) A step on a set of stairs; the rung of a ladder. (defdate from 13th c.) ¹

2. Noun. An individual step, or stage, in any process or scale of values. (defdate from 13th c.) ¹

3. Noun. A stage of rank or privilege; social standing. (defdate from 13th c.) ¹

4. Noun. (genealogy) A ‘step’ in genealogical descent. (defdate from 14th c.) ¹

5. Noun. (rare) One's relative state or experience; way, manner. (defdate from 14th c.) ¹

6. Noun. The amount that an entity possesses a certain property; relative intensity, extent. (defdate from 14th c.) ¹

7. Noun. A stage of proficiency or qualification in a course of study, now especially an award bestowed by a university or, in some countries, a college, as a certification of academic achievement. (In the United States, can include secondary schools.) (defdate from 14th c.) ¹

8. Noun. (geometry) A unit of measurement of angle equal to 1/360 of a circle's circumference. (defdate from 14th c.) ¹

9. Noun. (physics) A unit of measurement of temperature on any of several scales, such as Celsius or Fahrenheit. (defdate from 18th c.) ¹

10. Noun. (mathematics) The sum of the exponents of a term; the order of a polynomial. (defdate from 18th c.) ¹

11. Noun. (graph theory) The number of edges that a vertex takes part in; a valency. ¹

12. Noun. (surveying) The curvature of a circular arc, expressed as the angle subtended by a fixed length of arc or chord. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Degree

1. one of a series of stages [n -S] : DEGREED [adj]

Medical Definition of Degree

1. 1. A step, stair, or staircase. "By ladders, or else by degree." (Rom. Of R) 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." . "A knight is your degree." . "Lord or lady of high degree." 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." (Sir. J. Reynolds) 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. 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." (Macaulay) 5. 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." (Hallam) 7. Three figures taken together in numeration; thus, 140 is one degree, 222,140 two degrees. 8. 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, a^2b^2c 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, ax^4 + bx^2 = c, and mx^2y^2 + nyx = p, are both equations of the fourth degree. 9. 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. A line or space of the staff. The short lines and their spaces are added degrees. Accumulation of degrees. 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." (Prof. Wilson) Origin: F. Degre, OF. Degret, fr. LL. Degradare. See Degrade. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Degree

degranulates degranulating degranulation degranulations degras degrative degravitating degravitation degrease degreased

degreaser degreasers degreases degreasing degreasings degree (current term) degree-day degree Celsius degree Centigrade degree Fahrenheit

degree Kelvin degree Rankine degree absolute degree day degree days degree mill degree of a polynomial degree of a term degree of freedom degree of glory

Literary usage of Degree

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Proceedings by Philadelphia County Medical Society (1896)
"Under these con- tradictory methods the degree in one ... As the State has not a recognized medical authority, and as the degree at the colleges of the so- ..."

2. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1904)
"My claim is that if work in engineering, for example, does not result in such intellectual growth as deserves the bachelor's degree it should be stimulated ..."

3. A Treatise on the Analytic Geometry of Three Dimensions by George Salmon (1865)
"It is evident, in fact, that the degree of the equation of the section ... For instance, the equation is""of the third degree ; but when we make z = 0, ..."

4. Bulletin by American delphinium society, Texas Engineering Experiment Station, Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (1912)
"GLASS LIST OF GRADUATES From 1875 to 1885, the degree of "Bachelor of Science" was the only undergraduate degree conferred by the University. ..."

5. Observations on Man, His Frame, His Duty, and His Expectations by David Hartley (1801)
"To explain the Manner and degree, in which the automatic ... to fome degree of a voluntary one. In what manner and degree deglutition is voluntary, ..."

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