1. rows of seats arranged in tiers, as in an amphitheater or stadium
Usage: architecture; plural form
2. stepped or terraced formations in landscape or construction
Usage: architecture; geology

Examples

• The ancient amphitheater featured stone gradines that could seat thousands of spectators.
• Students filled the gradines of the lecture hall for the popular professor’s class.
• The architect designed gradines along the hillside to prevent erosion.
• Spectators climbed the steep gradines to reach their seats at the top of the stadium.
• The natural gradines in the rock formation created perfect viewing platforms.
• Workers repaired the crumbling gradines of the old theater before the renovation.