To arrange things in a series of small, regular steps or degrees from one extreme to another.
From Latin 'gradatus', past participle of 'gradari' (to walk, to go by degrees), from 'gradus' (step). The meaning shifted from physical movement to arranging things progressively.
The word 'gradate' captures something artists and scientists do constantly—moving so smoothly between extremes that you can't point to exactly where it changes, like how a sunset gradates from blue to red.
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