grade

1 /greId/ noun

1 STANDARD (C, U) a particular standard or level of quality that a product, material etc has: Grade A eggs | low-grade steel

2 COMPANY (C) the level of importance you have or the level of pay you receive in a company or organization: Wilma has a lot of responsibility but she's still on a secretarial grade.

3 make the grade to succeed or reach the necessary standard: Nina'll never make the grade as a professional tennis player.

4 SCHOOL YEAR (C) a particular year of a school course in the American school system: Bobby's in the second grade.

5 MARK IN SCHOOL (C) especially AmE a mark given for a particular piece of work in school, or for your work during all or part of a year: You need good grades to go to college.

6 SLOPE (C) AmE degree of slope, especially in a road or railway; gradient BrE

2 verb (T)

1 to separate things, or arrange them in order according to their quality or rank: potatoes graded according to size

2 especially AmE to give a mark to an examination paper or to a piece of school work: Matt's busy at home grading papers.

3 to give a particular rank and level of pay to a job