noun

1. any of the successive steps or stages in a process or series
2. a step in the direct line of descent a cousin in the second degree
3. social or official rank, position, or class a man of low degree
4. relative condition; manner, respect, or relation each contributing to victory in his degree
5. extent, amount, or relative intensity hungry to a slight degree, burns of the third degree
6. Algebra rank as determined by the sum of a term's exponents the terms ac and x are of the fifth degree
7. Educ. a rank given by a college or university to a student who has completed a required course of study, or to a distinguished person as an honor
8. Gram. a grade of comparison of adjectives and adverbs the positive degree is “good,” the comparative degree is “better,” and the superlative degree is “best”
9. ☆ Law the seriousness of a crime murder in the first degree
10. Math., Astron., Geog., etc. a unit of measure for angles or arcs, one 360th part of the circumference of a circle: the measure of an angle is the number of degrees between its sides considered as radii of a circle: symbol, ° a right angle has 90 degrees
11. Music the relative position of a note within a given scale B is the second degree in the scale of A
12. Physics
    1. a unit of measure on a scale, as for temperature
    2. a line marking a degree, as on a thermometer

Etymology: ME degre < OFr degré, degree, step, rank < VL *degradus < degradare: see degrade