Meaning of degree in English

degree

noun

/dɪˈɡriː/ us

/dɪˈɡriː/

degree noun (AMOUNT)

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B2 [ C usually singular, U ]

(an) amount or level of something:

degree of This job demands a high degree of skill.

There isn't the slightest degree of doubt that he's innocent.

I have to warn you that there's a degree of (= some) danger involved in this.

The number of terrorist attacks has increased to a terrifying degree.

There was some degree of truth in what she said.

to what degree To what degree do you think we will be providing a better service?

a matter of degree

a situation that involves varying levels of something rather than two completely different things:

"That's really bad." "Well, it's all a matter of degree (= there are other things better and other things worse)."

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Courts can show a considerable degree of latitude when it comes to applying the law.
We can predict changes with a surprising degree of accuracy.
I like modern art to a certain degree, but I don't like the really experimental stuff.
It is impossible to predict the outcome of the negotiations with any degree of certitude.
Individuals with even a small degree of emotional intelligence are a dream to work for.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

General words for size and amount

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degree noun (UNIT)

A2 [ C ]

(written abbreviation deg.)

any of various units of measurement, especially of temperature or angles, usually shown by the symbol ° written after a number:

a difference of three degrees

degrees Fahrenheit The temperature is given in degrees Fahrenheit.

degrees Celsius Hypothermia occurs when the body's core temperature drops below 35 degrees Celsius.

degrees Fahrenheit/Celsius/Centigrade Water boils at 212°F (212 degrees Fahrenheit) and 100°C (100 degrees Celsius).

A right angle is an angle of 90° (90 degrees).

latitude/longitude of 40, 75, etc. degrees New York is on a latitude of 41°N and a longitude of 74°W.

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The average temperature worldwide has risen by about one degree Fahrenheit in the past 100 years.
The boat settled into the mud at a 35 degree angle/an angle of 35 degrees.
The temperature is expected to drop to ten degrees below zero tonight.
It's two degrees outside, but with the wind-chill factor, it feels like minus five.
The thermometer recorded a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius.

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Mathematical symbols

degree noun (IN EDUCATION)

B1 [ C ]

a course of study at a college or university, or the qualification given to a student after he or she has completed his or her studies:

degree in She has a degree in physics from Edinburgh.

She graduated with a degree in history.

degree from He has a medical degree from Harvard.

get a degree If you have a computer, you can get a degree.

do a degree UK "What degree did you do at York?" "Geography."

See also

bachelor's degree
graduate degree
Master's degree
postgraduate degree

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A degree in computer science should make you highly employable.
At work she was self-conscious about the fact that she did not have a university degree.
There is a predominance of people with an arts degree on the board of governors.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Qualifications: university & college

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Classes & courses

Idioms

by degrees

to a/some degree

-degree

suffix

/ -dɪ.ɡriː/ us

/ -dɪ.ɡriː/

used with an ordinal number (= first, second, third, etc.) to show how serious something is:

He suffered second- and third-degree (= serious and very serious) burns in the incident.

US Some of these people had committed sexual assault, from second-degree to fifth-degree (= serious to not so serious) criminal sexual conduct.

US A fifth-degree felony has a sentence of six months to a year in prison.

See also

first-degree
second-degree
to the nth degree informal

used with a number to show a measurement, especially of temperature or angles:

Bake the pie in a 350-degree (= 350°F) oven.

Lean forward at a 45-degree angle.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Serious and unpleasant

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Mathematical symbols

(Definition of degree from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

degree | American Dictionary

degree

noun

/dɪˈɡri/

degree noun (AMOUNT)

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[ C/U ]

an amount or level of something:

[ C ] This job demands a high degree of skill.

[ C ] The house had also been damaged, but to a lesser degree.

degree noun (TEMPERATURE UNIT)

[ C ]

(symbol °)

a unit of measurement of temperature, often shown by the symbol ° written after a number:

The temperature is expected to climb to 90° tomorrow.

degree noun (ANGLE MEASUREMENT)

[ C ] geometry

(symbol °)

a unit of measurement of angles, often shown by the symbol ° written after a number

degree noun (NUMBER)

[ C ] algebra

an exponent (= number that shows how many times another number is to be multiplied by itself)

degree of a monomial

A degree of a monomial is the total of the exponents in a mathematical statement.

degree of a polynomial

A degree of a polynomial is the largest of the exponents in a mathematical statement.

degree noun (ACHIEVEMENT)

[ C ]

the level of achievement recognized for a student who has completed a course of study at a college or university:

She earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale.

(Definition of degree from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of degree

degree

This may include planning a further move to housing offering a greater degree of shelter, or even greater reliance on families.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The degree to which the bias or variance is reduced will in turn affect the rate by which the model's error will decrease.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Coherences between recording sites reflect the pattern and degree of connectivity between brain regions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The degree is delivered by the institution in which the student is registered, following its own regulations.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They then develop a hierarchy of representations of different degrees of explicitness.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

By the end of the century, however, a few women had managed to break the ranks of male professionalism and attain medical degrees.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Several additional tools and features are needed in the director's toolkit, with some degree of adaptability to support the different roles we described earlier.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Every natural system is subject to regular disturbances; those that have survived indeed must have built up some degree of resilience.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A certain degree of division of labour took place in the production of cigarettes, but not in the production of cigars and limpiones.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

And we are supposed to accept such degrees!

From the Cambridge English Corpus

There is considerable variation in the degrees of multipartism, party discipline, and the stability of party systems and government coalitions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

From the 2 tables, a threshold of 9.21 at two degrees of freedom and 99% confidence is selected for this demonstration.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This may among other things affect degree of culpability.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Other things held equal, the higher the net interest margin, the lower is the degree of competition.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The effect of this has been to emphasize the structural stability and the degree of systematicity that existed even in early forms of these languages.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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