degrees Meaning & Definition

Degrees Definition (Noun)

1. a step or stage in a process, course, or order of classification

   advanced by degrees / We all know that you're only three degrees away from all sorts of interesting and even famous people on social media.

2. a rank or grade of official, ecclesiastical, or social position

   people of low degree

3. a particular standing especially as to dignity or worth
4. the civil see civil condition or status of a person
5. a step in a direct line of descent or in the line of ascent to a common ancestor
6. step, stair
7. a member of a series arranged in steps (as of parts of a structure)
8. a measure of damage to tissue caused by injury or disease compare first-degree burn, second-degree burn, third-degree burn
9. the extent, measure, or scope of an action, condition, or relation

   different in degree but not in kind / requiring a high degree of skill

10. relative intensity

    a high degree of stress

11. one of the forms or sets of forms used in the comparison of an adjective or adverb
12. a legal measure of guilt or negligence

    found guilty of murder in the first degree

13. a title conferred on students by a college, university, or professional school on completion of a program of study

    earned her four-year degree / associate's degrees / has a degree in psychology

14. a grade of membership attained in a ritualistic order or society

    received his first degree in the Knights of Columbus

15. an academic title conferred to honor distinguished achievement or service

    The actor was presented with an honorary degree.

16. the formal ceremonies observed in the conferral of such a distinction
17. a unit of measure for angles equal to an angle with its vertex at the center of a circle and its sides cutting off 1/360 of the circumference

    a fifteen degree angle / 47 degrees Latitude

18. a unit of measure for arcs of a circle equal to the amount of arc that subtends a central angle of one degree
19. a position or space on the earth or in the heavens as measured by degrees of latitude
20. a step, note, or tone of a scale
21. a line or space of the musical staff
22. one of the divisions or intervals marked on a scale of a measuring instrument
23. any of various units for measuring temperature

    350 degrees Fahrenheit

24. the sum of the exponents of the variables in the term of highest degree in a polynomial, polynomial function, or polynomial equation
25. the sum of the exponents of the variable factors of a monomial
26. the greatest power of the derivative of highest order in a differential equation after the equation has been rationalized see rationalize and cleared of fractions with respect to the derivative