low-grade

See also: lowgrade and low grade

English

Alternative forms

• low grade, lowgrade

Adjective

low-grade (comparative lower grade, superlative lowest grade)

1. Of inferior quality.
   • 1961 September, “Talking of Trains: Greater scope for steam”, in Modern Railways, page 517:

     Were the possibilities of improving the efficiency of British Railways' steam locomotives by making the best use of the reasonably satisfactory low-grade lump coal available today, and thereby saving more high-grade locomotive coal, borne in mind when it was decided to go ahead rapidly with replacement of steam traction?

2. (medicine) Minor
   • 2023 February 8, Emma C. Tovey Crutchfield, Sarah E. Garnish, Jessica Day, Holly Anderton, Shene Chiou, Anne Hempel, Cathrine Hall, Komal M. Patel, Pradnya Gangatirkar, Katherine R. Martin, Connie S. N. Li Wai Suen, , Alexandra L. Garnham, Andrew J. Kueh, Ian P. Wicks, John Silke, Ueli Nachbur, Andre L. Samson, James M. Murphy, Joanne M. Hildebrand, “MLKL deficiency protects against low-grade, sterile inflammation in aged mice”, in Cell Death & Differentiation, volume 30, →DOI, pages 1059–1071:

     These studies have identified a novel role for MLKL in aging, revealing a delay in the age-related reduction in circulating lymphocytes and a protection from chronic, low-grade, sterile inflammation in female Mlkl^–/– aged mice.

   • 2023 June 29, Elizabeth S. Mayne, Jaya A. George, Susan Louw, “Assessing Biomarkers in Viral Infection”, in Application of Omic Techniques to Identify New Biomarkers and Drug Targets for COVID-19, Springer, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 159–173:

     Elevated cytokine levels in chronic viral infections are attributed to a number of stimuli. In HIV infection, chronic activation has been linked to ongoing low-grade viral replication, presence of opportunistic infections, and microbial translocation.

   • 2024 May 31, Shuliang Ge, Jinhang Wen, Swee-Tian Quek, Wilfred C. G. Peh, “Imaging of Shoulder Infection”, in Medical Radiology, Springer, →DOI, pages 1–22:

     Clinical Presentation
     Patients with septic arthritis or osteomyelitis classically present acutely with localized pain and swelling, joint stiffness, low-grade fever, chills, anorexia, and malaise.

Antonyms

• high-grade

Derived terms

• low-grade fever

Translations

of inferior quality

• Bulgarian: долнокачествен (bg) (dolnokačestven)
• Finnish: huonolaatuinen (fi)
• German: minderwertig (de)
• Malayalam: തരംതാഴ്ന്ന (tarantāḻnna)
• Russian: низкосо́ртный (ru) (nizkosórtnyj), низкопро́бный (ru) (nizkopróbnyj)

medicine

• Arabic: مُنْخَفِض الدَّرَجَة (munḵafiḍ ad-daraja)
• German: geringgradig

Anagrams

• goldware