third degree

1. 1.

   interrogation often accompanied by torture to extort information or a confession

   Broaderinterrogation

Questions about third degree

What does third degree mean?

third degree means "interrogation often accompanied by torture to extort information or a confession".

Is third degree a common word?

third degree is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.