Graded

How to spell graded

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce graded

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does graded mean?

1. verbAssessed work or assigned it a mark, score, or rank.
2. adjectiveArranged or varying in steps, levels, or degrees.

Graded in a sentence

• verb

  The teacher graded every exam paper before the deadline.

• adjective

  The course offers a carefully graded series of lessons for beginners.

• verb

  Inspectors graded each hotel according to a strict checklist.

• adjective

  The path follows a gently graded slope down to the river.

Where does graded come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is the past form of the verb 'grade', which entered English in the early 1800s from the Latin noun gradus, meaning 'a step', 'a pace', or 'a degree'. That same gradus underlies a whole family of English words, including 'gradual', 'gradient', and 'degree', all of which carry the idea of moving by measured steps. The verb sense of sorting things into ranks or levels developed naturally from the noun, and the schoolroom meaning of assigning a mark or grade to work followed soon after, especially in American usage. The spelling is regular: the silent 'e' of 'grade' is dropped before the '-ed' ending is added, which is the one small trap worth remembering. Because the root meant a step, anything that is 'graded' has effectively been arranged step by step along a scale.

How the word is built

• grad- (from Latin gradus: step, degree)
• -ed (past tense / past participle suffix)