gradable

Imagine something that is not just one thing or the other, but can change by degrees. That is the basic idea of "gradable." In grammar, this is very common with adjectives like "hot," "cold," or "happy" because something can be a little hot, very hot, or hotter than something else. More generally, the word can also describe anything that can be placed on a scale instead of being treated as a simple yes-or-no matter.

The word "gradable" usually describes something that can be understood in degrees rather than as an absolute. Instead of being simply on or off, true or false, it can be a little, somewhat, very, more, or less. The idea is that there is a scale.

This word appears especially often in grammar. A gradable adjective is an adjective such as "big," "small," "easy," or "difficult." These words can be modified by degree words like "very," "quite," or "too," and they can usually form comparisons such as "bigger" or "more difficult." By contrast, words like "dead" or "perfect" are often treated as non-gradable in their strict sense, because they are not normally meant to describe a scale.

Outside grammar, "gradable" can also describe things that can be measured or judged by levels. Temperature is gradable because it can be slightly warm, warm, hot, or extremely hot. Pain is gradable because it can range from mild to severe. In this wider sense, the word suggests that a thing can be placed somewhere along a range.

Something that is not gradable is usually treated as binary or absolute. A basic light switch is on or off. A coin lands on heads or tails. Those are not natural examples of a scale. So when you call something "gradable," you are saying that it allows differences of degree, not just a simple either-or choice.