PAY GRADE Definition & Meaning

pay grade

[ pey greyd ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

the grade of a member of the armed services established according to a scale of increasing amounts of base pay and related to but not identical with official rank:
A soldier in my pay grade had very little money.
a grade on any pay or salary scale:
Advancement to a higher pay grade will depend on your job performance.

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of pay grade¹

First recorded in 1880–85; originally a term in the U.S. armed forces

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Idioms and Phrases

be above / be beyond one's pay grade, to be above one’s level of ability, skill, knowledge, or authority: It’s beyond this court’s pay grade to alter the doctrine.
To be honest, that subject is way above my pay grade.
It’s beyond this court’s pay grade to alter the doctrine.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Martinez’s supervisors, she said, had told her she was doing great work and well above her pay grade.

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What exactly Cold Harbor is isn’t entirely clear yet, either, but we do know it’s a major MDR project with implications that are above the Innies’ pay grade.

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Lue said it was “above my pay grade” on whether or not the Clippers should play the game against the Heat.

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“The technological aspect of this is above my pay grade, but everybody seems pretty confident about it,” she said.

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Proteas head coach Mandla Mashimbyi said the decision not to use DRS was above his "pay grade", but bemoaned the lack of communication around the "bizarre" decision which led to Dercksen's wicket.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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