rave
/ɹeɪv/
rave noun: an enthusiastic review (such as of a play). Also the simple past of rive.
Noun (1)
rave (countable and uncountable, plural raves)
- An enthusiastic review (such as of a play).
- It was the critic's rave that made me want to see the show.
- The first-night audience, yes. The first-night reviewers, not exactly. The notices have so far been mixed, only The Financial Times having delivered itself of an unequivocal rave.1989, The New York Times Theater Reviews, 1920-, volume 18, page 167
- Synonyms:
- raving review
- A large-scale dance party with strobe lights and fast-paced electronic dance music, often illegally organized open-air or in underground venues.
- She has attended a rave every weekend this month.
- Synonyms:
- rave-up
- The genres of electronic dance music made to be played in rave parties.
- I danced to rave music all night.
- Maybe I wear baggies / And white socks with flip-flops / Maybe I don't like listening to rave / And I'm not on the social mountaintops2009, Chrysalis Experiential Academy, Mind Harvesting, page 109
Verb (1)
rave (third-person singular simple present raves, present participle raving, simple past and past participle raved)
- To be mentally unclear; to be delirious; to talk or act irrationally; to be wild, furious, or raging.
- Have I not cause to rave and beat my breast?1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 47
- The mingled torrent of redcoats and tartans went raving down the valley to the gorge of Killiecrankie.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XIII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and...
- To speak or write wildly or incoherently.
- "She is in trance. Your daughter, sir, is a powerful medium." "A medium! You are raving."1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019
- Synonyms:
- rant
- To talk or otherwise express oneself with excessive enthusiasm, passion or excitement.
- He raved about her beauty.
- The Lisbon mob, inflamed by the newspapers, and excited by the example of Brazil, raved a day or two for a republic1890, The Review of Reviews, volume 1, Office of the Review of Reviews, page 94
- To speak (a message) with intense enthusiasm, passion or excitement.
- She raved that she must seek revenge against the wrongdoers.
- The Berkeley Courier critic, an Englishwoman, raved: "A new company has started up in our midst, and they provided me last Saturday evening with the best theatrical experience I have had in a very long time, maybe ever..."1985, Helen Epstein, Tina Packer Builds a Theatre, Plunkett Lake Press
- To rush wildly or furiously.
- Under a mightie rocke, gainst which do rave
The roaring billowes in their proud disdaine1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- Under a mightie rocke, gainst which do rave
- To attend a rave (dance party).
- The situation with Tommy's parents made me grateful my parents hadn't caught on to my partying that summer. How had I gotten away with raving every weekend, and sometimes on Thursday nights too?2021, Samantha Durbin, Raver Girl: Coming of Age in the 90s
Verb (2)
rave (third-person singular simple present raves, present participle raving, simple past and past participle raved)
Noun (2)
rave (plural raves)
- One of the upper side pieces of the frame of a wagon body or a sleigh.
- It was astonishing to see how he had gnawed the rave of the sled.1851, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volume 3, page 519
- The main lever rests upon the rave when not in use.1875, Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, page 345
Proper noun capitalized: Rave
Rave (plural Raves)
- A surname.
Also used as
rave is also the simple past of rive.
rave meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Bengali and Telugu
rave in Tamil
- dance party
- ரேவு rēvu
rave in Marathi
- रावे
rave in Bengali
- রেভে
rave in Telugu
- రేవ్, రావే, రేవ్ చేయడానికి
More languagesFewer languages
- rave in Malayalam
- റേവ്
- rave in Kannada
- ರೇವ್, ರೇವ್ ಮಾಡಲು
- rave in Gujarati
- રેવ કરવા માટે
- rave in Odia
- ରେଭ୍, ରେଭ, ରେଭ୍ କରିବା ପାଇଁ
- rave in Arabic
- هذيان hadhyān, احتفل iḥtafala
- rave in Thai
- เพ้อ pə́ə, พร่ำเพ้อ, รำพัน
Examples of rave in a sentence
- The hallowed scene / Which others rave on, though they know it not.1812, Lord Byron, “Canto I”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh...
- "Paloma, Paloma!" raved a delirious backer.1923 September, Harley P. Lathrop, McClure's Magazine, S.S. McClure, page 28:
- some-times she raved that she cared nought for the future happiness of Ram Ruoy and would not go.1909, The Word, volume 9, Theosophical Publishing Company, page 127:
- Next I weld a collar on, A, to keep the brake in place when on the sled; then make a two-eyed bolt to fasten the brake to the rave.1891, Milton Thomas Richardson, Practical Blacksmithing, page 192:
Synonyms of rave
- raving review
- rave-up
- rant
- craze
- have a kangaroo loose in the top paddock
- have a screw loose
- have bats in one's belfry
- have bats in the belfry
- have squirrels in the attic
- have toys in the attic
Forms of rave
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | raves |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | raves |
| present participle | raving |
| past participle | raved |
| past | raved |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Raves |
Origin of rave
From Middle English raven (“to rave; talk like a madman”), from Old French raver, variant of resver, of uncertain origin. Compare rave below, and rove.
From northern Middle English raven, from Old Norse ráfa (“to wander, roam”), of uncertain and obscure origin. Perhaps from a dissimilation of Proto-Germanic *wab(b)ōną (“to sway, waver, swing, shake, wobble, totter, reel, careen”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to move, swarm, waft”). Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk rava (“to wander, be delirious”). Doublet of rove. Compare also Middle Dutch reven (“to utter nonsense, rave, be drowsy”) (whence modern Dutch revelen (“to rave, talk nonsense”), Middle Low German rēven (“to be crazy, think and talk nonsensically”), Middle High German reben (“to move about, dream, be confused”) (compare Alemannic German räbeln (“to make loud noise”)).
English dialect raves, or rathes (“a frame laid on a wagon, for carrying hay, etc.”).
Words formed from rave
Phrases with rave
Words that rhyme with rave
Questions about rave
- What does rave mean?
- Rave means an enthusiastic review (such as of a play).
- What is rave in Tamil?
- Rave in Tamil is ரேவு (rēvu). See Rave meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use rave in a sentence?
- The hallowed scene / Which others rave on, though they know it not.
- What part of speech is rave?
- Rave can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce rave?
- Rave is pronounced /ɹeɪv/.
- What is the plural of rave?
- The plural of rave is raves.
Words near rave in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rave (page history and authors); Rave (page history and authors); rave (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rave (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rave (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rave (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rave (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rave (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rave (Odia, 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-rave.wav.
Cite this entry: “rave.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rave. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.