What does grade mean?
Grade denotes a mark, rank, category, or level within an ordered system. Its best-known use is for a mark awarded in school, while related meanings include a quality rating, a stage of development, a class or year, and the gradient of a road. The verb means to assign such a mark or rating, but it also has technical uses: materials may be graded by quality, timber may be graded according to condition or dimensions, and ground may be graded to create a level surface. The word suggests comparison, standards, and orderly progression. A pupil receiving a good grade has demonstrated satisfactory or superior performance; a product may similarly be assigned a grade that indicates its quality. Although “grade” can sound institutional and occasionally implies strict classification, it remains neutral in most contexts. The metaphor of a ladder or staircase is traditional: a grade originally meant a step, and the word still conveys position within a hierarchy.
A mark or rating indicating achievement, quality, or standing; a rank, category, level, or stage within a system.
"The inspector assigned the restaurant a grade of A."
The educational sense is familiar in North American English, but grades and marks are also used in British and other English-speaking education systems.
To assign a mark or rating to something, or to classify, sort, level, or process it according to a standard.
"The machine grades the fruit by size before packing it."
Technical uses include grading the quality of materials, selecting products by category, and levelling or shaping a surface.
Use grades for multiple marks, ratings, ranks, or levels, as in “She received high grades throughout the year.”
"The two schools received different grades for their reading programmes."
From the Latin gradus, meaning “step,” a grade began as a rung on a ladder; the metaphor still shapes how we imagine ranks, marks, and standards.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does grade come from?
The word entered Middle English from Old French grade, ultimately from Latin gradus, meaning “step” or “degree,” a noun related to the Latin verb gradi, “to step” or “walk.” Its original sense of a step on a scale developed into the ideas of rank, degree, and level; the educational sense of an academic mark became established in the early modern period. The same Latin root underlies related English words such as degree, gradual, progress, and regression.
Related word forms
How grade is actually used
In education, “grade” is especially common in the United States and Canada, where pupils are commonly described as being in a particular grade; British usage more often refers to year groups, although grades and marks are still used for assessments and qualifications. The verb is also common in technical contexts involving sorting, shaping, grading, or levelling materials and surfaces.