Gradual Meaning
/ˈɡɹadʒuəl/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjProceeding or advancing by small, slow, regular steps or degrees
nounAn antiphon or responsory after the epistle, in the Mass, which was sung on the steps, or while the deacon ascended the steps.
Sentence Examples
Your English has made gradual progress.
Computers caused a great, if gradual, change.
The gradual ruin of our country has to be stopped.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ increase in temperature over several weeks was barely noticeable.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The recovery from the surgery was a ____ process that took several months of physical therapy and rest.
Word Origin & History
From Medieval Latin graduālis, from Latin gradus (“step”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰradʰ-, *gʰredʰ- (“to walk, go”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌹𐌸𐍃 (griþs, “step, grade”), Bavarian Gritt (“step, stride”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Creatures animate with gradual life / Of growth, sense, reason, all summed up in man."
— 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ increase in temperature over several weeks was barely noticeable.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The recovery from the surgery was a ____ process that took several months of physical therapy and rest.