Link Centre Dictionary

race

US/ɹeɪs/ common
noun (6) verb (4)

noun

1.

any competition

  • “the race for the presidency”
2.

people who are believed to belong to the same genetic stock

  • “some biologists doubt that there are important genetic differences between races of human beings”
3.

a contest of speed

  • “the race is to the swift”
4.
5.

(biology) a taxonomic group that is a division of a species; usually arises as a consequence of geographical isolation within a species

Synonyms
6.

a canal for a current of water

Synonyms

verb

1.

step on it

  • “He rushed down the hall to receive his guests”
  • “The cars raced down the street”
Synonyms
Antonyms
2.

compete in a race

  • “he is running the Marathon this year”
  • “let”
Synonyms
3.

to work as fast as possible towards a goal, sometimes in competition with others

  • “We are racing to find a cure for AIDS”
4.

cause to move fast or to rush or race

  • “The psychologist raced the rats through a long maze”
Synonyms

Origin

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...

Phrases

  • arms race
  • at the races
  • bronze race
  • caucus race
  • chosen race
  • critical race theory
  • cross-race effect
  • data race
  • dog in the race
  • elephant race
  • gay race communism
  • have a dog in the race

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.