gradatory
English
Etymology
Compare Latin gradatarium.
Noun
gradatory (plural gradatories)
- (architecture) A series of steps from a cloister into a church.
Adjective
gradatory (comparative more gradatory, superlative most gradatory)
- Proceeding step by step; gradual.
- A. Seward
- Could we have seen [Macbeth's] crimes darkening on their progress […] could this gradatory apostasy have been shown us.
- A. Seward
- (zoology) Suitable for walking; said of the limbs of an animal when adapted for walking on land.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for gradatory in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)