- degree
- [[t]dɪgri͟ː[/t]]
♦♦degrees1) 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.
●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 of2) 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-degree7) 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: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 extent9) 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
English dictionary. 2008.