degree

[[t]dɪgri͟ː[/t]]

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degrees

1) N-COUNT: with supp, usu N of n You use degree to indicate the extent to which something happens or is the case, or the amount which something is felt.

These man-made barriers will ensure a very high degree of protection for several hundred years...

Recent presidents have used television, as well as radio, with varying degrees of success.

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PHRASE: PHR n If something has a degree of a particular quality, it has a small but significant amount of that quality.

Their wages do, however, allow them a degree of independence...

A degree of cautious optimism is justified.

Syn:

a measure of

2) N-UNCOUNT: of/in N You use degree in expressions such as a matter of degree and different in degree to indicate that you are talking about the comparative quantity, scale, or extent of something, rather than other factors.

The first change is a matter of degree, the second is a fundamental shift...

Generally, the programs of the president and the proposals of the governor appear to differ in degree and emphasis rather than ideology.

3) N-COUNT: usu num N A degree is a unit of measurement that is used to measure temperatures. It is often written as °, for example 23°.

It's over 80 degrees outside...

Pure water sometimes does not freeze until it reaches minus 40 degrees Celsius.

4) N-COUNT: usu num N A degree is a unit of measurement that is used to measure angles, and also longitude and latitude. It is often written as °, for example 23°.

It was pointing outward at an angle of 45 degrees.

...McMurdo Station in Antarctica, which is at 78 degrees South.

5) N-COUNT: usu with supp A degree at a university or college is a course of study that you take there, or the qualification that you get when you have passed the course.

It was two years later that he returned to take a master's degree in economics at Yale.

...an engineering degree.

...the first year of a degree course.

6) → See also , second-degree, third-degree

7) PHRASE If something happens by degrees, it happens slowly and gradually.

The crowd in Robinson's Coffee-House was thinning, but only by degrees.

Syn:

gradually

8) PHRASE: PHR with cl (vagueness) You use expressions such as to some degree, to a large degree, or to a certain degree in order to indicate that something is partly true, but not entirely true.

These statements are, to some degree, all correct.

Syn:

to some extent

9) PHRASE (vagueness) You use expressions such as to what degree and to the degree that when you are discussing how true a statement is, or in what ways it is true.

To what degree would you say you had control over things that went on?...

He believes in himself to such a degree that he abuses his friends.

Syn:

to what extent, to the extent that

10) to the nth degree → see nth