(1) A series made up of successive stages. (2) A step in an ordered scale.

In the Boy Scouts, gradations of rank move upward from Tenderfoot to Eagle Scout. A violin or a voice can produce gradations of musical pitch too small to appear in written music. In the 18th century Jonathan Swift could even write of “the several kinds and gradations of laughter, which ladies must daily practice by the looking-glass.”

(1) To treat someone or something poorly and without respect. (2) To make the quality of something worse.

In Shakespeare's *King Lear,* the old king is degraded by the daughters he has given his kingdom to. He finds it *degrading,* for instance, when the number of his guards is reduced from 100 to 25. His *degradation* seems complete when, after going mad, he's reduced to living in the wilderness. As you can see, *degrade* is often a synonym for *humiliate*.

(1) Slope, grade. (2) A continuous change in measure, activity, or substance.

Any slope can be called a gradient. In the interstate highway system, the maximum gradient is 6 percent; in other words, the highway may never ascend more than 6 vertical feet over a distance of 100 feet. Any rate of change that's shown on a graph may have a sloped gradient. Suppose the graph's horizontal axis shows the passage of time and its vertical axis shows some activity; if the activity is happening very fast, then the gradient of the line on the graph will be steep, but if it's slow the gradient will be gentle, or *gradual*.

(1) Moving or performed in a direction that is backward or opposite to the usual direction. (2) Moving toward a worse or earlier state.

*Retrograde* describes backwardness of one kind or another. If a country decided to go back to amputating the limbs of criminals, we might call that policy retrograde. A retrograde view of women might be one that sees them basically as housekeepers. Mars and Jupiter show retrograde (backward) motion at some stages of their orbits, though this is only because of the way we see them from the earth, not because of any real backward movement.

A regular course of treatment, usually involving food, exercise, or medicine.

Americans love self-improvement, so they're constantly adopting regimens: skin-care regimens, low-cholesterol regimens, weight-loss regimens, and the like. A course of medication may be complicated enough to deserve the name *regimen*, and a rehab regimen may require having your activities monitored at a treatment center. Mental regimens can also be valuable; researchers are finding that minds that get the most exercise seem to last the longest.

(1) The time during which a throne is vacant between two successive reigns or regimes. (2) A period during which the normal functions of government or control are suspended.

Every time a pope dies, there's an interregnum period before a new one is elected by the cardinals. In most democratic systems, however, the law specifies who should take office when a president or prime minister dies unexpectedly, and since the power usually passes automatically, there's no true interregnum. The question of succession—that is, of who should take over when a country's leader dies—has often presented huge problems for countries that lacked a constitution, and in monarchies it hasn't always been clear who should become king or queen when a monarch dies. The interregnum following the death of Edward VI in 1553, for instance, was briefly suspended when Lady Jane Grey was installed as Queen; nine days later she was replaced by Mary Tudor, who sent her straight to the Tower of London.

(1) The emblems and symbols of royalty. (2) Special or official dress.

Just as *regal* describes a king or queen—that is, a ruler—*regalia* originally meant the things, and especially the dress and decoration, that belong exclusively to a monarch. The British monarchy's regalia include the crown jewels (crown, scepter, orb, sword, etc.) that lend luster to royal coronations. Academic regalia—the caps, gowns, and hoods worn by students receiving their degrees—link institutions to their past by preserving the dress worn at universities since their beginnings in the Middle Ages, when long hooded robes were needed for warmth.

A government or period of time in which a regent rules in place of a king or queen.

In Britain, the years from the time when George III was declared insane until his death (1811–1820) are known as the Regency period, since in these years his son, the future George IV, served as Prince Regent, or acting monarch. (Sometimes the term covers the period up to the end of George IV's own reign in 1830.) The Regency is remembered for its elegant architecture and fashions, its literature (especially the works of Jane Austen), and its politics. Today hotels, furniture, and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic carry the name “Regency” to identify with the period's style, and hundreds of modern romance novels—called simply “Regencies”—have been set in the period. Though there have been dozens of European regencies over the centuries, for Americans today there seems to be only one Regency.