Word.ws English Dictionary

race

UK/ɹeɪs/

race noun: a contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective.

race: a contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some...
Image: The wub, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

race (countable and uncountable, plural races)

  1. A contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective.
    • Several horses ran in a horse race: the first one to reach the finishing post won.
  2. Swift progress; rapid motion; an instance of moving or driving at high speed.
    • The flight of many birds is swifter than the race of any beasts.1631, Francis [Bacon], “VII. Century. [Experiments Solitary touching the Quicknesse of Motion in Birds.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […]...
    Synonyms:
    dash, running, rush
  3. A race condition; a bug or problem that occurs when two or more components attempt to use the same resource at the same time.
    • Many problems of oscillations and races are solved by this arrangement.1989, R. Raghuram, Computer Simulation of Electronic Circuits, New Delhi: Wiley Eastern, →ISBN, page 181
  4. A sequence of events; a progressive movement toward a goal.
    • A race of wicked acts / Shall flow out of my anger, and o’erspread / The world’s wide face[.]1603, Ben Jonson, Sejanus His Fall, act 2, scene 2
  5. A fast-moving current of water.
    • Here are in these seas two dangerous races, the one called St. Alban's, the other Portland Race.1893, “Remarks upon the Way from Abingdon to Southamption, and other Places”, in The Manuscripts of His Grace the Duke of Portland, volume 2, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, page 288
    Synonyms:
    rip
  6. A water channel, especially one built to lead water to or from a point where it is utilised, such as that which powers a millwheel.
    • Evidently the future manufacturing development depends upon the hydraulic canal, so far as existing works are concerned, rather than upon the two races, which can never be enlarged to embrace a comprehensive improvement of the river, while the capabilities at the hydraulic basin are unrivaled. So...1885, James Leal Greenleaf, “Report on the Water-Powers of the Drainage Basins of Lakes Huron and Erie, in the United States”, in Reports on the Water-Power of the United States, Washington...
  7. A path that something or someone moves along.
    • My race of glory run, and race of ſhame,1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 40, line 598
    Synonyms:
    career, course, progress
  8. A groove on a sewing machine or a loom along which the shuttle moves.
    • I have lately seen a shuttle machine of Messrs. Grover Baker's construction, in which the shuttle worked in a semi-circular race and produced two stitches at each revolution of the wheel.1860, Charles Cole, The Sewing Machine, and its Capabilities, page 53
    Synonyms:
    shuttle race
  9. A ring with a groove in which rolling elements (such as balls) ride, forming part of a rolling-element bearing (for example, a ball bearing).
    • inner/outer race
    Synonyms:
    ballrace
  10. A keno gambling session.
    • Your odds are sometimes significantly better with video keno […] But because video keno plays so much faster, you're likely to lose more money over a given period. Live keno races start every 10 minutes, but you can make 100 bets on a video version in the same amount of time.2022, Kevin Blackwood, Swain Scheps, “Striking the Mother Lode: Keno and Bingo”, in Casino Gambling For Dummies, 2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons

Verb (1)

race (third-person singular simple present races, present participle racing, simple past and past participle raced)

  1. (intransitive) To take part in a race (in the sense of a contest).
    • The drivers were racing around the track.
  2. (transitive) To compete against in a race (contest).
    • I raced him to the car, but he was there first, so he got to ride shotgun.
  3. (intransitive) To move or drive at high speed; to hurry or speed.
    • As soon as it was time to go home, he raced for the door.
    Synonyms:
    rush, shift, zip, zoom
  4. (intransitive) To run rapidly when not engaged to a transmission.
    • "My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built."1891 December, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Man with the Twisted Lip”, in The Strand

Noun (2)

race (countable and uncountable, plural races)

  1. A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage.
    • The Canadian race is one of the most vigorous on the globe.
  2. A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of common physical characteristics, such as skin color or hair type.
    • Race was a significant issue during apartheid in South Africa.
  3. A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of shared characteristics or qualities, for example social qualities.
    • The advent of the Internet has brought about a new race of entrepreneur.
  4. A large group of nonhumans distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage.
    • A treaty was concluded between the race of elves and the race of men.
  5. A group of organisms distinguished by common characteristics; often an informal infraspecific rank in taxonomy, below species
    • [I]nnumerable popingayes of ſundry kindes are found chattering in the groues of thoſe fenny places. […] For in the raſe of this large lande, Colonus [Christopher Columbus] him ſelfe brought and ſent to the courte a greate number of euery kynde, the which it was lawfull for all the people to...1555, Peter Martyr of Angleria [i.e., Peter Martyr d’Anghiera], “The Nynth Booke of the Seconde Decade, of the Supposed Continent”, in Rycharde Eden [i.e., Richard Eden], transl., The Decades of the...
    Synonyms:
    kind, strain, variety
  6. A population geographically separated from others of its species that develops significantly different characteristics; a mating group.
    • Two races are certainly valid. The Atlantic race (P. v. vitulina) is distinguishable from the Pacific race (P. v. richardi Gray, 1864) by skull characters.1968 December, Dale W. Rice, Victor B. Scheffer, A List of the Marine Mammals of the World, Special Scientific Report—Fisheries number 579, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Phoca vitulina...
  7. A strain of plant with characteristics causing it to differ from other plants of the same species.
    • Nevertheless, as our varieties certainly do occasionally revert in some of their characters to ancestral forms, it seems to me not improbable, that if we could succeed in naturalising, or were to cultivate, during many generations, the several races, for instance, of the cabbage, in very poor soil...1859, Charles Darwin, “Variation under Domestication”, in On the Origin of Species
    Synonyms:
    kind, strain, variety
  8. (animal husbandry) A breed or strain of domesticated animal.
    • For do but note a wild and wanton herd, / Or race of youthful and unhandled colts, / Fetching mad bounds.c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, act 5, scene 1
    Synonyms:
    kind, strain, variety
  9. A strain of microorganism, fungi, etc.
    • Now Mary MacDonald of the Plant Breeding Institute at Maris Lane, Cambridge, has made an interesting study which has duplicated the conditions under which new races arise. And she has produced at least one new fungal race.1977 March 24, “Why is cereal fungus so resistant?”, in New Scientist, volume 73, number 1044, page 697
  10. (broadly) A category or kind of thing distinguished by common characteristics.
    • You do not tell me her diſeaſe; and perhaps have not been able yourself fully to underſtand it. I hope it is not of the cephalic race.1783 November 20, Samuel Johnson, “From the Letters of Dr. Samuel Johnson”, in Vicesimus Knox, editor, Elegant Epistles, Dublin: Messrs H. Chamberlaine and Rice, published 1790, section 3, letter 79...
  11. (obsolete) Peculiar flavour, taste, or strength, as of wine; that quality, or assemblage of qualities, which indicates origin or kind, as in wine; hence, characteristic flavour.
    • Is it [the wine] of the right race?c. 1625, Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts, act 1, scene 3
    Synonyms:
    typicity
  12. (obsolete) Characteristic quality or disposition.
    • And now I give my sensual race the rein.c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, act 2, scene 4
Show 4 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (obsolete) The sexual activity of conceiving and bearing biological offspring.
    • It behooveth therefore that the Mares appointed for race, be well compacted, of a decent quality, being fair and beautiful to look upon, the belly and loins being great, in age not under three nor above ten years old.1658, Edward Topsell, “Of the horse”, in The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents, page 234
  2. (archaic, uncountable) Ancestry, lineage.
    • Yes, madam, believe it, she is a gentlewoman of very absolute behaviour, and of a good race.1609, Ben Jonson, Epicœne, or The Silent Woman, act 3, scene 2
  3. (obsolete) A step in a lineage or succession; a generation.
    • In ſeveral orders of knighthood, as in that of Malta, &c. the candidates muſt prove a nobility of four races or deſcents.1738 [1728], Ephraim Chambers, “Race”, in Cyclopaedia: Or, An Universal Dictionary Of Arts and Sciences, 2nd edition, London: D. Midwinter
    Synonyms:
    age group, cohort
  4. (obsolete, uncountable) Progeny, offspring, descendants.
    • Have I my pillow left unpressed in Rome, / Forborne the getting of a lawful race, / And by a gem of women, to be abused / By one that looks on feeders?c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, act 3, scene 13
    Synonyms:
    get, issue, seed

Verb (2)

race (third-person singular simple present races, present participle racing, simple past and past participle raced)

  1. To assign a race to; to perceive as having a (usually specified) race.
    • To be raced as black in the U.S. translates symbolically into being considered inferior to whites, lazy, immoral, boisterous, violent, and sexually promiscuous.1996, Philosophical Studies in Education, page 151
  2. (obsolete) To pass down certain phenotypic traits to offspring.
    • D'Hervieux obſerves that it is uſual to put the female canary bird to the male goldfinch, linnet, or the like, to breed; but for his part, he ſhould chuſe to put the male canary-bird to the female goldfinch, linnet, &c. becauſe the male uſually races more than the female, i. e. the young ones take...1738 [1728], Ephraim Chambers, “Race”, in Cyclopaedia: Or, An Universal Dictionary Of Arts and Sciences, 2nd edition, London: D. Midwinter

Noun (3)

race (plural races)

  1. A rhizome or root, especially of ginger.
    • I must have saffron to color the warden pies; mace; dates, none—that's out of my note; nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger, but that I may beg; four pounds of prunes, and as many of raisins o' th' sun.1610, William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, act IV, scene III, line 45
    Synonyms:
    rhizome, rootstalk

Verb (3)

race (third-person singular simple present races, present participle racing, simple past and past participle raced)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To sharpen (a grindstone) by scraping its surface.
    • Another source of dust arises from the "hanging" and "racing" of the grindstones. […] This is effected by holding a bar of steel against it whilst it is slowly turned, and is known as "racing" the stone.1889 April 20, John T[homas] Arlidge, “Abstract of the Milroy Lectures on Occupation and Trade in Relation to Public Health”, in The Lancet, page 774
  2. (West-Country, transitive) To cut, scratch, or tear (someone or something) with a sharp object; to lacerate, to slash; specifically (nautical), to make marks on (something, such as a piece of wood) using a race knife.
    • Buckles and agglettes at vnwares, ſhall race his bowe, a thinge both euill for the fight, ⁊ perillous for freatinge.1545, Roger Ascham, “The Seconde Booke”, in Toxophilus, the Schole, or Partitions of Shooting […], [new] edition, London: […] Thomas Marshe, published 1571, →OCLC, folio 38, recto
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To level or tear down (a building, a town, etc.) to the ground; to demolish.
    • For his further ſecuritie he [Don Roderigo] diſarmed his ſubjects; ſuch Caſtles and ſtrengths as hee vvas jealous of vvere raced, […]a. 1619 (date written), Walter Raleigh, The Life and Death of Mahomet, the Conquest of Spaine together with the Rysing and Ruine of the Sarazen Empire, London: […] R[alph] H[odgkinson] for Daniel...
  4. (obsolete, rare, transitive) To make (a path or way) through something by cutting or tearing.
    • [T]he king purſude / And furrovved through the thickned troopes. As vvhen tvvo chaced Bores / Turne head gainſt kennels of bold hounds, and race vvay through their gores: […][1611?], Homer, “The Eleventh Booke of Homers Iliads”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC, page 148
  5. (obsolete, transitive, footwear) To make a cut or slash in (an item of clothing or footwear) as a decoration.
    • Item an old white sattin dublett laced all over with a small silver lace in a worke raced and cutt betweene1614 June 15, An Inventory of the late Lo. Privy Seale his Jewels and Plate with their severall waightes and valuations taken the XVIth daie of June, 1614, together with an Inventory of the Goodes...
  6. (obsolete, transitive) To alter (a document) by erasing parts of it.
    • This indenture is raced all the worlde may ſe it: Ceſte indenture eſt faulcée tout le monde le peult veoyr.1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The Table of Verbes”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan...
  7. (also, figuratively, obsolete, transitive) To erase (a record, text, etc.), originally by scraping; to rub out, to scratch out.
    • The wound alas happe in some other place, / From whence no toole away the skar can race.c. 1528–1541 (date written), Thomas Wyatt, “[Sonnets] Sonnet 31”, in A[gnes] K[ate] Foxwell, editor, The Poems of Sir Thomas Wiat […], volume I, London: Hodder and Stoughton [for the] University of...
  8. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive) To completely remove (someone or something), especially from a place, a situation, etc.; also, to remove from existence; to destroy, to obliterate.
    • VVithout reſpect of ſex, degree or age. / He raceth all his foes vvith fire and ſvvord.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...

Verb (4)

race (third-person singular simple present races, present participle racing, simple past and past participle raced)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To pluck or snatch (something); also, to pull (something).
    • [H]e be-heilde towarde the fier, and saugh the flesshe that the knaue hadde rosted that was tho I-nough, and raced it of with his hondes madly, and rente it a-sonder in peces, and wette it in mylke, and after in the hony, and ete as a wood man that nought ther lefte of the flessh; […][c. 1450–1460 (date written), “The Dream of the Wife of King Ban; the Dream of Julius Cæsar, Emperor of Rome”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, Merlin or The Early History of King Arthur: A...

Proper noun capitalized: Race

Race (plural Races)

  1. A surname.

race meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

race in Hindi

contest
दौड़ dauṛ
a large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage
वंश vañś, जाति jāti, नस्ल nasla, ज़ात zāt, बिरादरी birādrī, जिनस jinas

race in Tamil

இனம், பந்தயம்

race in Marathi

शर्यत, शर्यती

race in Urdu

a large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage
نسل nasla
More languagesFewer languages
race in Bengali
বংশ boṅśo, বর্গ borgo
race in Telugu
వంశము vaṁśamu, కుటుంబము kuṭumbamu
race in Malayalam
വംശം vaṁśaṁ, ഓട്ടം ōṭṭaṁ
race in Kannada
ಜಾತಿ jāti
race in Punjabi
ਜਾਤੀ jātī, جن jan
race in Gujarati
રેસ, રેસ કરવા માટે
race in Odia
ରେସ୍
race in Sanskrit
वंश vaṃśa
race in Sinhala
ජනවර්ග janawarga
race in Nepali
जाति jāti
race in Pashto
مسابقه mosābeqa, نژاد nežãd
race in Tagalog
karera, karerahan, lahi
race in Arabic
سِبَاق sibāq, مُسَابَقَة musābaqa, عِرْق ʕirq, سَابَقَ sābaqa
race in Malay
perlumbaan, bangsa, ras, baka
race in Indonesian
lomba, berpacu, ras, melaju
race in Persian
مسابقه mosâbeqe, نژاد nežâd
race in Thai
การแข่งขัน gaan-kɛ̀ng-kǎn, เชื้อชาติ chʉ́ʉa-châat, ชาติ châat
race in Vietnamese
cuộc đua, chủng tộc, nòi
race in Myanmar
လူမျိုး lu-myui:, ဝံသ wamsa.

Examples of race in a sentence

  • The race to cure cancer
  • The race around the park was won by Johnny, who ran faster than the others.
  • We had a race to see who could finish the book the quickest.
  • The horse raced past the barn fell.
  • The Native Americans colonized the New World in several waves from Asia, and thus they are considered part of the same Mongoloid race.
  • "Behold that rival here! / "The race by vigour, not by vaunts is won; / "So take the hindmost, Hell."—He said, and run.1743, Alexander Pope, The Dunciad, London: M. Cooper, book 2, page 82, lines 58–60:

All 40 example sentences with race

Synonyms of race

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of race

Forms of race

Noun
pluralraces
Verb
third-person singular presentraces
present participleracing
past participleraced
pastraced

Past tense of race: raced

Plural of race: races

Origin of race

From Middle English race, partially from Old English rǣs (“a race, swift or violent running, rush, onset”), from Proto-West Germanic *rās; and partially from Old Norse rás (“a running, race”); both from Proto-Germanic *rēsō (“a course”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁s- (“to flow, rush”). Cognate with Middle Low German râs ("a strong current"; whence German Low German Raas (“mad rush, rage, fury”)), Dutch ras (“a strong whirling current”), Danish ræs, Norwegian and Swedish ras, Norwegian rås.

1560s, via Middle French race from Italian razza (early 14th century), of uncertain origin. Partially displaced native Middle English kinde (“kind, type, sort, race, nature”), whence English kind. Fully displaced native Old English cnōsl and hād. theories * Diez and some other scholars suggest derivation from Proto-Germanic *raitō (whence Old High German reiza (“line”) and Old Norse ríta (“to score, log, outline”)), perhaps via Lombardic *raiza (“line”), which Körting notes is a literal rendering of Latin linea sanguinis (“bloodline of descent”). Anatoly Liberman says "the semantic fit is good" but the chronology falters; he says the Germanic word went out of use before the Italian word arose, and he says the intermediary is not attested. * Some scholars suggest derivation from Old Spanish raza, rasa, from earlier ras, res (“head of cattle”), from Arabic رَأْس (raʔs, “head”), but Italian razza predates the Spanish word according to Diez and Meyer-Lübke. * Meyer-Lübke suggested Latin generatio as the root; Körting says "the disappearance of two initial syllables hardly seems credible", but Meyer-Lübke notes the Venetian form narazza and the Old Bellunesian form naraccia, positing...

Mid 16th century. From Middle French raïz, raiz, rais (“root”), from Latin radix (“root”), from Proto-Italic *wrādīks, from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds.

Words formed from race

Phrases with race

113 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with race

45 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about race

What does race mean?
Race means a contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective.
What is race in Hindi?
Race in Hindi is दौड़ (dauṛ), वंश (vañś), जाति (jāti). See Race meaning in Hindi.
How do you use race in a sentence?
The race to cure cancer
What part of speech is race?
Race can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce race?
Race is pronounced /ɹeɪs/ (UK).
What is the plural of race?
The plural of race is races.

Words near race in the dictionary

  1. raccoonsona
  2. raccoonsonas
  3. raccroc stitch
  4. raccroc stitches
  5. RACCs
  6. race
  7. race against the clock
  8. race against time
  9. race baiting
  10. race blindness
  11. race car

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: race (page history and authors); Race (page history and authors); race (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); race (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); বংশ (Bengali) (page history and authors); కుటుంబము (Telugu) (page history and authors); ഓട്ടം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಜಾತಿ (Kannada) (page history and authors); جن (Punjabi) (page history and authors); race (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); race (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); जाति (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-race.ogg.

Cite this entry: “race.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/race. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.