"make the grade" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grade"
      },
      "expansion": "grade",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Probably from a railway train climbing a length of track sloping uphill (a grade).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "makes the grade",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "making the grade",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made the grade",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made the grade",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "make<,,made> the grade"
      },
      "expansion": "make the grade (third-person singular simple present makes the grade, present participle making the grade, simple past and past participle made the grade)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1938 October 17, “Tarnished Plate”, in Time",
          "text": "In 1916 the famed Van Sweringen brothers bought their first railroad—the Nickel Plate. . . . This year, as usual, the tarnished Nickel Plate cannot make the grade. In first seven months it lost $2,003,779.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1967, Beatles, A Day In The Life",
          "text": "I read the news today, oh boy\nAbout a lucky man who made the grade\nAnd though the news was rather sad\nWell, I just had to laugh",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 March 19, Margaret Wente, “Please stop nannying us, Toronto!”, in Globe and Mail, Canada, page A13",
          "text": "In the end, only eight plucky contestants made the grade.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "2020 November 1, Alan Young, “He quit the role after You Only Live Twice, frustrated by the repetitive plots, but was enticed back after his successor George Lazenby failed to make the grade.”, in The Scotsman:",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To prove satisfactory; to be successful or worthy of merit."
      ],
      "id": "en-make_the_grade-en-verb-hOKfGA92",
      "links": [
        [
          "satisfactory",
          "satisfactory"
        ],
        [
          "successful",
          "successful"
        ],
        [
          "merit",
          "merit"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To prove satisfactory; to be successful or worthy of merit."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "up to par"
        },
        {
          "word": "up to snuff"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "cut it"
        },
        {
          "word": "cut the mustard"
        },
        {
          "word": "make the cut"
        },
        {
          "word": "measure up"
        },
        {
          "word": "pass muster"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-make the grade.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/85/En-au-make_the_grade.ogg/En-au-make_the_grade.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/En-au-make_the_grade.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "make the grade"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grade"
      },
      "expansion": "grade",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Probably from a railway train climbing a length of track sloping uphill (a grade).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "makes the grade",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "making the grade",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made the grade",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made the grade",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "make<,,made> the grade"
      },
      "expansion": "make the grade (third-person singular simple present makes the grade, present participle making the grade, simple past and past participle made the grade)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "up to par"
    },
    {
      "word": "up to snuff"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1938 October 17, “Tarnished Plate”, in Time",
          "text": "In 1916 the famed Van Sweringen brothers bought their first railroad—the Nickel Plate. . . . This year, as usual, the tarnished Nickel Plate cannot make the grade. In first seven months it lost $2,003,779.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1967, Beatles, A Day In The Life",
          "text": "I read the news today, oh boy\nAbout a lucky man who made the grade\nAnd though the news was rather sad\nWell, I just had to laugh",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 March 19, Margaret Wente, “Please stop nannying us, Toronto!”, in Globe and Mail, Canada, page A13",
          "text": "In the end, only eight plucky contestants made the grade.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "2020 November 1, Alan Young, “He quit the role after You Only Live Twice, frustrated by the repetitive plots, but was enticed back after his successor George Lazenby failed to make the grade.”, in The Scotsman:",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To prove satisfactory; to be successful or worthy of merit."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "satisfactory",
          "satisfactory"
        ],
        [
          "successful",
          "successful"
        ],
        [
          "merit",
          "merit"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To prove satisfactory; to be successful or worthy of merit."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-make the grade.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/85/En-au-make_the_grade.ogg/En-au-make_the_grade.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/En-au-make_the_grade.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "cut it"
    },
    {
      "word": "cut the mustard"
    },
    {
      "word": "make the cut"
    },
    {
      "word": "measure up"
    },
    {
      "word": "pass muster"
    }
  ],
  "word": "make the grade"
}