gradatory adjective 2noun 1forms 3 adjective2 •Suitable for walking, or able to walk (said of an animal, especially a bird, or of the limbs of an animal when adapted for walking on land).Under this name we group together a large number of very similar forms; or if dissimilar, forms connected by gradatory specimens — 1897 •(no longer used) Proceeding step by step; gradual.Could we have seen [Macbeth's] crimes darkening on their progress […] could this gradatory apostasy have been shown us. — 1793 noun1 •A series of steps from a cloister into a church. formsgradatories · more gradatory · most gradatory