1.a position on a scale of intensity or amount or quality;
a moderate degree of intelligence
2.a specific identifiable position in a continuum or series or especially in a process;
a remarkable degree of frankness
3.an award conferred by a college or university signifying that the recipient has satisfactorily completed a course of study;
he earned his degree at Princeton summa cum laude
4.a unit of temperature on a specified scale;
the game was played in spite of the 40-degree temperature
5.a measure for arcs and angles;
there are 360 degrees in a circle
6.the highest power of a term or variable
7.the seriousness of something (e.g., a burn or crime);
murder in the second degree