Word.ws English Dictionary

rathest

rathest is the superlative form of rathe.

rathest is the superlative form of rath.

Meaning of rathe

Adjective

rathe (comparative rather, superlative rathest)

  1. (poetic) Ripening or blooming early.
    • Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies.1637 (date written; published 1638), John Milton, “Lycidas”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC

See all 4 meanings of rathe

Meaning of rath

Noun

rath (plural raths)

  1. (historical) A walled enclosure, especially in Ireland; a ringfort built sometime between the Iron Age and the Viking Age.
    • The Legend of Knock-Grafton tells how a little hunchback, while sitting to rest at nightfall at the side of a Rath or Moat, heard the fairies within singing over and over again, Da Luan, Da Mart! (i.e., Monday, Tuesday!) and added, weary with the monotony, Agus da Cadin! (i.e., and Wednesday!).1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 364

See all 3 meanings of rath

Questions about rathest

What is rathest the superlative form of?
Rathest is the superlative form of rathe.

Words near rathest in the dictionary

  1. ratherish
  2. Ratherism
  3. Ratherisms
  4. rathers
  5. Rathes
  6. rathest
  7. Rathgeber
  8. Rathgebers
  9. rathite
  10. Rathje
  11. Rathjen

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rathest (page history and authors); rathe (page history and authors); rath (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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Cite this entry: “rathest.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rathest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.