Gradient

How to spell gradient

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce gradient

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does gradient mean?

1. nounThe degree or rate at which a surface slopes upward or downward.
2. nounThe rate at which a physical quantity, such as temperature or pressure, changes across a distance.

Gradient in a sentence

• The cyclists struggled on the steep gradient leading out of the valley.

• The weather report explained the sharp pressure gradient driving the storm inland.

• Engineers limited the railway gradient so that heavy trains could climb safely.

• A steep temperature gradient across the wall caused the condensation.

Where does gradient come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Gradient comes from the Latin verb gradi, meaning 'to walk or step', and its related noun gradus, meaning 'a step' or 'a degree'. The English word was coined relatively recently, in the early 1800s, apparently formed on the model of words like 'salient' so that it would describe something that steps or rises by degrees. It first found practical use among railway and road engineers, who needed a precise term for the rate at which a track or surface inclines. The same Latin root for stepping survives in many familiar relatives, including 'grade', 'gradual', 'degree', and 'progress', all of which carry the idea of moving forward by measured steps. Knowing that the core is grad, a step or degree, helps fix the spelling and explains the unstressed -ient ending that learners often fumble.

How the word is built

• grad- (from Latin gradus: a step, a degree)
• -ient (noun/adjective suffix)