Gradation

(gra-da's hun.) [From L. gradatio, an advancing by steps.) (Mus.) A diatonic ascending or descending succe ion of sounds.-(Paint.) The gradual blending of one tint into another.-(Log.) A form of argumentation which consists of propositions so disposed that the attribute of the first is the subject of the second; that of the second the subject of the third, and so on till the last attribute comes to be predicated of the subject of the first proposition. [s. 418]