make the grade
English
Etymology
Probably from a railway train climbing a length of track sloping uphill (a grade).
Pronunciation
Audio (Australia): (file)
Verb
make the grade (third-person singular simple present makes the grade, present participle making the grade, simple past and past participle made the grade)
- (idiomatic) To prove satisfactory; to be successful or worthy of merit.
- Synonyms: cut it, cut the mustard, make the cut, measure up, pass muster
- Near-synonym: fit the bill
- 1938 October 17, “Tarnished Plate”, in Time[1], New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 August 2010:
- In 1916 the famed Van Sweringen brothers bought their first railroad—the Nickel Plate. . . . This year, as usual, the tarnished Nickel Plate cannot make the grade. In first seven months it lost $2,003,779.
- 1967, Beatles, “A Day In The Life”:
- I read the news today, oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well, I just had to laugh
- 2009 March 19, Margaret Wente, “Please stop nannying us, Toronto!”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, ON: The Woodbridge Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page A13:
- In the end, only eight plucky contestants made the grade.
- 2020 November 1, Alan Young, “Sean Connery obituary: From delivering milk in Fountainbridge to the definitive James Bond”, in The Scotsman[2], archived from the original on 19 February 2025:
- He quit the role after You Only Live Twice, frustrated by the repetitive plots, but was enticed back after his successor George Lazenby failed to make the grade.
Translations
Translations
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