Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - degree

 noun  Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French degre, from Vulgar Latin *degradus, from Latin de- + gradus  Date: 13th century  1. a step or stage in a process, course, or order of classification advanced by ~s  2.  a. a rank or grade of official, ecclesiastical, or social position people of low ~  b. archaic a particular standing especially as to dignity or worth  c. the civil condition or status of a person  3. a step in a direct line of descent or in the line of ascent to a common ancestor  4.  a. obsolete step, stair  b. archaic a member of a series arranged in steps  5. a measure of damage to tissue caused by injury or disease — compare first-~ burn, second-~ burn, third-~ burn  6.  a. the extent, measure, or scope of an action, condition, or relation different in ~ but not in kind  b. relative intensity a high ~ of stress  c. one of the forms or sets of forms used in the comparison of an adjective or adverb  d. a legal measure of guilt or negligence found guilty of robbery in the first ~  7.  a. a title conferred on students by a college, university, or professional school on completion of a program of study  b. a grade of membership attained in a ritualistic order or society  c. an academic title conferred to honor distinguished achievement or service  d. the formal ceremonies observed in the conferral of such a distinction  8. 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; also a unit of measure for arcs of a circle equal to the amount of arc that subtends a central angle of one ~  9. archaic a position or space on the earth or in the heavens as measured by ~s of latitude  10.  a. a step, note, or tone of a musical scale  b. a line or space of the musical staff  11. one of the divisions or intervals marked on a scale of a measuring instrument; specifically any of various units for measuring temperature  12.  a. the sum of the exponents of the variables in the term of highest ~ in a polynomial, polynomial function, or polynomial equation  b. the sum of the exponents of the variable factors of a monomial  c. the greatest power of the derivative of highest order in a differential equation after the equation has been rationalized and cleared of fractions with respect to the derivative  • ~d adjective