1. gradation - Noun
2. gradation - Verb
The act of progressing by regular steps or orderly arrangement; the state of being graded or arranged in ranks; as, the gradation of castes.
The act or process of bringing to a certain grade.
A gradual passing from one tint to another or from a darker to a lighter shade, as in painting or drawing.
A diatonic ascending or descending succession of chords.
To form with gradations.
Source: Webster's dictionaryIt is pleasant to observe by what regular gradation we surmount the force of local prejudice as we enlarge our acquaintance with the world. Thomas Paine
Survey the histories of all nations. You will never see them exchange their form of government for a monarchy, given their gradation by superstition; you will always see kings supporting religion, and religion supporting kings. Marquis de Sade
There is no chance and anarchy in the universe. All is system and gradation. Every god is there sitting in his sphere. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Every relation, every gradation of nature is incalculably precious, but only to the soul which is poised upon itself, and to whom no loss, no change, can bring dull discord, for it is in harmony with the central soul. Margaret Fuller
Universal History exhibits the gradation in the development of that principle whose substantial purport is the consciousness of Freedom. The analysis of the successive grades, in their abstract form, belongs to Logic; in their concrete aspect to the Philosophy of Spirit. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Nebulæ can be selected so that an insensible gradation shall take place. William Herschel