| Gradation 1. (n.) A series of steps or degrees; a systematic progression of ranks; a, a gradation of conditions of coins by good, excellent, etc.; the act of progressing by regular steps or orderly arrangement; the state of being graded or arranged in ranks; as, the gradation of castes. 2. (n.) The act or process of bringing to a certain grade. 3. (n.) Any degree or relative position in an order or series. 4. (n.) A gradual passing from one tint to another or from a darker to a lighter shade, as in painting or drawing. 5. (n.) A diatonic ascending or descending succession of chords. 6. (v. t.) To form with gradations. Thesaurus Entries Indian file, ablaut, acoustic phonetics, array, articulation, articulatory phonetics, assortment, bank, betacism, buzz, categorization, catena, catenation, chain, chain reaction, chaining, change, concatenation, connection, consecution, continuity, continuum, course, culling, cycle, degree, descent, difference, distinction, divergence, drone, endless belt, endless round, file, filiation, gamut, grading, graduation, grouping, hierarchy, hum, line, lineage, modification, monotone, morphophonemics, mutation, nexus, nuance, orthoepy, pendulum, periodicity, phonetics, phonology, place, placement, plenum, powder train, progression, queue, range, rank, ranking, recurrence, reticulation, rhotacism, rotation, round, routine, row, run, scale, screening, selection, sequence, serial order, series, shade, shading, sifting, single file, sorting, sorting out, sound shift, spectrum, string, subordination, succession, swath, taxonomy, thread, tier, train, triage, umlaut, variation, windrow |