third degree
11
6.4
- noun
- /θɜrd dɪˈɡri/
- Informal
:
tercer grado
- During the interrogation, the detective used the third degree to extract the suspect's confession.
- give me the third degree
- get the third degree
Examples
-
This whole thing is tough enough without you going on like this, constantly rehashing everything, putting all her friends through the third degree.
Fiction book (1998) -
Why is the TSA giving them the third degree?
Blog text (9) -
Damn, man, why you giving me the third degree?
-
Does your sister give every man the third degree?
-
We're not saying that you have to give everyone the third degree.
-
What is this, the third degree?
-
Ashley, why are you giving me the third degree?
-
And on the way home, whenever Mom and I asked her a question, she'd tell us to, "Stop giving me the third degree!"
-
Don't give him the third degree, Paul.
-
They spent most of the time giving me the third degree.
Synonyms
236
5.1
A set of formal questions asked to get information during an investigation
9
7.9
A harsh, long questioning that invades someone's privacy
9
9.2
Harsh or violent questioning by government officials that is like torture
Questioning someone for a long time to cause stress or force answers
How Intense
- Offensive
9
9.2
- Informal
11
6.4
- Formal
236
5.1
2
3.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although 'third' and 'degree' separately suggest an ordinal level and a measure of intensity, the idiomatic sense 'intense questioning or interrogation' is not a predictable composition of those parts. The interrogation meaning is a colloquial, historical extension that a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would be unlikely to infer, so it behaves as an opaque idiom.
Etymology
Third degree may come from the simple image of steps or 'degrees' of heat and pressure, where the third 'degree' is the strongest step. So, to give someone the third degree means to put them under very strong 'questioning' until they 'confess'.