gradient

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: gra=di=ent

CIDE DICTIONARY

gradient, a. [L. gradiens, p. pr. of gradi to step, to go. See Grade.].

•  Moving by steps; walking; as, gradient automata.  Wilkins.  [1913 Webster]
•  Rising or descending by regular degrees of inclination; as, the gradient line of a railroad.  [1913 Webster]
•  Adapted for walking, as the feet of certain birds.  [1913 Webster]

gradient, n. 

•  The rate of regular or graded ascent or descent in a road; grade.  [1913 Webster]
•  A part of a road which slopes upward or downward; a portion of a way not level; a grade.  [1913 Webster]
•  The rate of increase or decrease of a variable magnitude, or the curve which represents it; as, a thermometric gradient.
•  The variation of the concentration of a chemical substance in solution through some linear path; also called concentration gradient; -- usually measured in concentration units per unit distance. Concentration gradients are created naturally, e.g. by the diffusion of a substance from a point of high concentration toward regions of lower concentration within a body of liquid; in laboratory techniques they may be made artificially.  [PJC]

Gradient post, a post or stake indicating by its height or by marks on it the grade of a railroad, highway, or embankment, etc., at that spot.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

gradient, n.
1 a a stretch of road, railway, etc., that slopes from the horizontal. b the amount of such a slope.
2 the rate of rise or fall of temperature, pressure, etc., in passing from one region to another.

Etymology

prob. formed on GRADE after salient

THESAURUS

gradient

bank, bevel, bezel, chute, easy slope, fleam, gentle slope, glacis, grade, hanging gardens, helicline, hillside, inclination, incline, inclined plane, launching ramp, lean, leaning, pitch, ramp, rise, rising, scarp, shelving beach, side, slant, slope, steep slope, stiff climb, talus, tilt, uprise, uprising, vertical height

ROGET THESAURUS

gradient

Obliquity

N obliquity, inclination, slope, slant, crookedness, slopeness, leaning, bevel, tilt, bias, list, twist, swag, cant, lurch, distortion, bend, tower of Pisa, acclivity, rise, ascent, gradient, khudd, rising ground, hill, bank, declivity, downhill, dip, fall, devexity, gentle slope, rapid slope, easy ascent, easy descent, shelving beach, talus, monagne Russe, facilis descensus averni.