资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Gradatory \Grad"a*to*ry\, n. [Cf. LL. gradatarium.] (Arch.)
   A series of steps from a cloister into a church.

Gradatory \Grad"a*to*ry\, a. [See {Grade}.]
   1. Proceeding step by step, or by gradations; gradual.

            Could we have seen [Macbeth's] crimes darkening on
            their progress . . . could this gradatory apostasy
            have been shown us.                   --A. Seward.

   2. (Zo["o]l.) Suitable for walking; -- said of the limbs of
      an animal when adapted for walking on land.

资料来源 : WordNet®

gradatory
     adj : slowly and smoothly [syn: {gradational}, {graduated}]