Word.ws English Dictionary

rate

UK/ɹeɪt/

rate noun: the worth of something; value.

Noun

rate (countable and uncountable, plural rates)

  1. (obsolete) The worth of something; value.
    • There shall no figure at such rate be set, / As that of true and faithfull Iuliet.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    • His natural parts were not of the first rate, but he had greatly improved them by a learned education.1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC
  2. The proportional relationship between one amount, value etc. and another.
    • At the height of his powers, he was producing pictures at the rate of four a year.
    • Negative responses to this program were being received by the office of the National Gay Task Force at the rate of ten to one.1979 December 29, Cindy Stein, “Queers in America's Living Rooms”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 23, page 10
  3. Speed.
    • The car was speeding down here at a hell of a rate.
    • Many of the horse could not march at that rate, nor come up soon enough.1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed...
  4. The relative speed of change or progress.
    • The rate of production at the factory is skyrocketing.
  5. The price of (an individual) thing; cost.
    • He asked quite a rate to take me to the airport.
  6. A set price or charge for all examples of a given case, commodity, service etc.
    • Postal rates here are low.
  7. A wage calculated in relation to a unit of time.
    • We pay an hourly rate of between $10 – $15 per hour depending on qualifications and experience.
  8. Any of various taxes, especially those levied by a local authority.
    • I hardly have enough left every month to pay the rates.
  9. A class into which ships were assigned based on condition, size etc.; by extension, rank.
    • This textbook is first-rate.
  10. (obsolete) Established portion or measure; fixed allowance; ration.
    • The one right feeble through the evil rate / Of food which in her duress she had found.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
  11. (obsolete, uncountable) Order; arrangement.
    • Thus sat they all around in seemly rate.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
  12. (obsolete) Ratification; approval.
    • Tis offerd, Sir, 'boue the rate of Caesar
      In other men, but in what I approue
      Beneath his merits: which I will not faile
      T'enforce at full to Pompey, nor forget
      In any time the gratitude of my seruice.c. 1610s, George Chapman, Caesar and Pompey
  13. The gain or loss of a timepiece in a unit of time.
    • daily rate; hourly rate; etc.

Verb (1)

rate (third-person singular simple present rates, present participle rating, simple past and past participle rated)

  1. (transitive) To assign or be assigned a particular rank or level.
    • She is rated fourth in the country.
  2. (transitive) To evaluate or estimate the value of.
    • They rate his talents highly.
    • To rate a man by the nature of his companions is a rule frequent indeed, but not infallible.1661, Robert South, False Foundations Removed (sermon)
  3. (transitive) To consider or regard.
    • He rated this book brilliant.
  4. (transitive) To deserve; to be worth.
    • The view here hardly rates a mention in the travel guide.
    • Only two assistant district attorneys rate corner offices, and Mandelbaum wasn't one of them.1955, Rex Stout, "When a Man Murders...", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, page 101
  5. (transitive) To determine the limits of safe functioning for a machine or electrical device.
    • The transformer is rated at 10 watts.
  6. (UK, transitive) To evaluate a property's value for the purposes of local taxation.
  7. (informal, transitive) To like; to think highly of.
    • The customers don't rate the new burgers.
  8. (transitive) To take action to slow down the pace of the horse one is riding.
    • Throughout the first turn is where the jockey rates the horse if the need arises. Rating a horse is where you keep it from putting out too much too soon.2019, Jay Cronley, Good Vibes
  9. (intransitive) To have position (in a certain class).
    • She rates among the most excellent chefs in the world.
    • He rates as the best cyclist in the country.
    Synonyms:
    rank
  10. (intransitive) To have value or standing.
    • This last performance of hers didn't rate very high with the judges.
  11. (transitive) To ratify.
    • to rate the truce[1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer...
  12. (transitive) To ascertain the exact rate of the gain or loss of (a chronometer) as compared with true time.

Verb (2)

rate (third-person singular simple present rates, present participle rating, simple past and past participle rated)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To berate, scold.
    • Then rated they hym, and sayde: Thou arte hys disciple.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John
    • Go, rate thy minions, proud, insulting boy!c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...

Verb (3)

rate (third-person singular simple present rates, present participle rating, simple past and past participle rated)

  1. (UK, dialectal, obsolete) To cause (hay, hemp, flax, etc) to decay (whether in an injurious way, or—as retting—in a useful way) by exposure to weather, particularly wetness.
    • From the "line pit" it [flax] is carried to the “RATING GROUND;" - a piece of unbroken aftergrass, where the sheaflets are untied, and the flax spread thin upon the grass. It is calculated, that a full crop ought to cover as much ground as it grew upon. Here it lies until it be sufficiently...1796, Mr. Marshall (William), The Rural Economy of Yorkshire: Compromising the Management of Landed Estates and the Present Practice of Husbandry in the Agricultural Districts of that County, page 70
    • […] hay when it is cocked either wette or greene, for then sure it is to be rated, and beinge rated looseth both the goode smell and goode taste; and likewise the colour, as yow may perceive by the blackenesse of the cocke on the outside; for if the[…]1857, Henry Best, Surtees Society (Durham, City of), Rural Economy in Yorkshire in 1641, Being the Farming and Account Books of Henry Best, of Elmsworth, in the East Riding of the County of York...

rate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

rate in Hindi

the proportional relationship between one amount, value etc. and another
दर dar
the relative speed of change or progress
दर dar
the price of a(n individual) thing; cost
दर dar, भाव bhāv
a set price or fee determined in relation to a particular scale or standard
दर dar

rate in Tamil

விலை, விகிதம், தரத்தைத் தீர்மானி

rate in Marathi

rate, price
भाव bhāv

rate in Urdu

بھاؤ, حساب, پڑتا, شرح, برا بھلا کہنا, ڈانٹنا
More languagesFewer languages
rate in Bengali
হার har
rate in Telugu
బద్దించు baddiñcu, ఆయము āyamu
rate in Malayalam
നിരക്ക് nirakkŭ
rate in Kannada
ಬೆಲೆ, ಮಟ್ಟ, ಬಗೆ, ಬೆಲೆಕಟ್ಟು
rate in Punjabi
ਦਰ, ਰੇਟ, ਰੇਟ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
rate in Gujarati
ભાવ bhāv
rate in Odia
ହାର
rate in Sanskrit
व्यवस्था vyavasthā
rate in Nepali
दर
rate in Tagalog
kabilsan
rate in Arabic
مُعَدَّل muʕaddal, سِعْر siʕr
rate in Malay
kadar
rate in Indonesian
angka
rate in Persian
نرخ nerx
rate in Vietnamese
tỷ suất

Examples of rate in a sentence

  • If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%.2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:
  • A few things DO work in Too Outrageous!, though I am not sure they rate the price of admission.1987 December 6, Paul Vincent Leone, “Too, Too Outrageous!”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 21, page 7:
  • So when he aroſe, he getteth him a grievous Crab-tree cudgel, and goes down into the Dungeon to them; and there firſt falls to Rateing of them, as if they were dogs: [...]1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page...
  • The successful monk, arriving at Ely, is rated for a goose and an owl; is ordered back to say that Elmset was the place meant.1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “XV, Practical — Devotional”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and...

All 40 example sentences with rate

Synonyms of rate

17 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of rate

Forms of rate

Noun
pluralrates
Verb
third-person singular presentrates
present participlerating
past participlerated
pastrated

Past tense of rate: rated

Plural of rate: rates

Origin of rate

From Middle English rate, from Old French rate, from Medieval Latin rata, from Latin prō ratā parte (“according to a fixed part”), from ratus (“fixed”), from rērī (“think, deem, judge, estimate", originally "reckon, calculate”).

From Middle English raten (“to scold, chide”), from Old Norse hrata (“to refuse, reject, slight, find fault with”), from Proto-Germanic *hratōną (“to sway, shake”), from Proto-Indo-European *krad- (“to swing”). Cognate with Swedish rata (“to reject, refuse, find fault, slight”), Norwegian rata (“to reject, cast aside”), Old English hratian (“to rush, hasten”).

Related to, or a variant of, ret. (Found dialectally also as rait.)

Words formed from rate

Phrases with rate

91 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with rate

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about rate

What does rate mean?
Rate means the worth of something; value.
What is rate in Hindi?
Rate in Hindi is दर (dar), भाव (bhāv). See Rate meaning in Hindi.
How do you use rate in a sentence?
If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%.
What part of speech is rate?
Rate can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce rate?
Rate is pronounced /ɹeɪt/ (UK).
What is the plural of rate?
The plural of rate is rates.

Words near rate in the dictionary

  1. Ratcliffe-on-Soar
  2. Ratcliffes
  3. Ratcliffian
  4. Ratcliffians
  5. Ratcliffs
  6. rate
  7. rate card
  8. rate cards
  9. rate constant
  10. rate constants
  11. rate equation

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rate (page history and authors); rate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); भाव (Marathi) (page history and authors); rate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); হার (Bengali) (page history and authors); ఆయము (Telugu) (page history and authors); നിരക്ക് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); rate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); rate (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ભાવ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); rate (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); व्यवस्था (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); rate (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

Last updated:

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

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