races

Noun

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

   Synonyms:

   race condition, race hazard

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

   Synonyms:

   course, procedure, process, train, array, chain, procession, consecution, sequence, series

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...

See all 43 meanings of race