Definition

• n. - A step, stair, or staircase.
• n. - One of a series of progressive steps upward or downward, in quality, rank, acquirement, and the like; a stage in progression; grade; gradation; as, degrees of vice and virtue; to advance by slow degrees; degree of comparison.
• n. - The point or step of progression to which a person has arrived; rank or station in life; position.
• n. - Measure of advancement; quality; extent; as, tastes differ in kind as well as in degree.
• n. - Grade or rank to which scholars are admitted by a college or university, in recognition of their attainments; as, the degree of bachelor of arts, master, doctor, etc.
• n. - A certain distance or remove in the line of descent, determining the proximity of blood; one remove in the chain of relationship; as, a relation in the third or fourth degree.