gradation
French, noun/ɡʁa.da.sjɔ̃/
gradation is spelled G-R-A-D-A-T-I-O-N (9 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written French, the 48,397th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Gradation is a French feminine noun meaning “gradation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Augmentation successive et par degrés”.
What does gradation mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininegradation
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Augmentation successive et par degrés. 2. Figure de rhétorique qui consiste en la succession de termes classés par ordre croissant ou décroissant. 3. Passage insensible d’une couleur à une autre. 4. Artifice de composition qui consiste à faire saillir le personnage ou le groupe principal, en affaiblissant graduellement l’expression, la lumière, etc., dans les autres figures à mesure qu’elles s’éloignent du centre de l’action.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of gradation
- gradations plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce gradation?
- /ɡʁa.da.sjɔ̃/
- \ɡʁa.da.sjɔ̃\
- [ɡʁa.da.sjɔ̃]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is gradation in French?
gradation appears about once in every 2 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).