The dissertation analyzes the semantics, structural organization and practical application of phraseological means of expressing gradational relations. A corpus of phraseological units with meaning gradations was formed and systematized in the form of gradational scales. The semantic, structural and pragmatic features of phraseological units with the meaning of gradation are analyzed. A dictionary of phraseological units with meaning of gradation is included. The interpretation of the term gradation is formulated, the terminology used in the work is outlined. The connection of the category of gradation with other language categories, namely with the category of intensity, extremeness, measure and degree, is analyzed. The views of linguists on the essence of the meaning of phraseological units of the language, its structure and methods of description are considered; features of phraseological units are outlined. According to with the traditional understanding of the scope of phraseology, proverbs and sayings were not included in the study. The understanding of gradation as a mental process, and gradation as a practical embodiment of mental operations of comparing different objects or their features, made possible such a description of phraseological units, which is based on the isolation of the gradation seme /semes in their meaning and, accordingly, made it possible to present them in the form of structured graduation scales and carry out ideographic classification. Various principles of ideographic description are considered. The principles of the ideographic classification of phraseological units proposed by linguists Viktor Uzhchenko and Dmytro Uzhchenko were used to systematize FD with seven degrees: synonymous and variant series → variant-synonymous group / variant-antonymous group → phraseosemantic field → phraseological field → phraseological group. An own system of describing phraseological units with meaning of gradation has been developed. All analyzed phraseological units are presented in the following ideographic hierarchy: phraseological group (FTG) → phraseological subgroup (FTP) → phraseological field (FSP). The following phraseological groups were analyzed: i) phraseological group "Man" consists of phraseological subgroups "Man as a living being", "Man as an intelligent being", "Man as a social being". FTP "Man as a living being" has the phraseological fields "Appearance", "Physical state", "Mental state", "Movement". FTP "Man as an intelligent being" has phraseological fields "Mind", "Character, behavior"; ii) the phraseological group "Abstract relations and concepts" covers the phraseological fields "Space", "Quantity", "Quality"; iii) phraseological group "Nature" covers FSP "Time", "Weather". The study analyzed 2220 phraseological units with a gradational seme. The most numerous group of phraseological units is the phraseological group "Man". A Dictionary of phraseological antonyms with meaning degrees of gradation is included. Prospects for further research consist in the study of the phraseological embodiment of gradation in the functional plan, taking into account the pragmatic nature of gradational relations. Compilation of different types of educational phraseological dictionaries, in which FDs will be presented in the form of graduated scales, will also be of practical importance.
