- rate
- [[t]re͟ɪt[/t]]
♦rates, rating, rated1) N-COUNT: with supp The rate at which something happens is the speed with which it happens.
The rate at which hair grows can be agonisingly slow...
The world's tropical forests are disappearing at an even faster rate than experts had thought.
2) N-COUNT: with supp The rate at which something happens is the number of times it happens over a period of time.New diet books appear at a rate of nearly one a week...
His heart rate was 30 beats per minute slower...
Britain held the unenviable record of having the highest divorce rate in Europe.
3) N-COUNT: with supp A rate is the amount of money that is charged for goods or services.→ See also exchange rateCalls cost 36p per minute cheap rate and 48p at all other times.
...specially reduced rates for travellers using Gatwick Airport...
East German wages were converted at the rate of one old East mark for one Deutschmark.
4) N-COUNT: with supp The rate of taxation or interest is the amount of tax or interest that needs to be paid. It is expressed as a percentage of the amount that is earned, gained as profit, or borrowed.The government insisted that it would not be panicked into interest rate cuts.
5) N-PLURAL In Britain, the rates were a local tax which you paid if you owned property or if you rented property without furniture.Soldiers were exempt from paying rates...
The new council tax combines elements of both the community charge and the rates.
6) V-ERG: no cont If you rate someone or something as good or bad, you consider them to be good or bad.[V n adj] Of all the men in the survey, they rate themselves the least fun-loving and the most responsible...
[V n adj] The film was rated excellent by 90 per cent of children...
[V n n] Most rated it a hit...
[V n as n/adj] We rate him as one of the best...
[V n adv] She rated the course highly...
[V adv prep] Reading books does not rate highly among Britons as a leisure activity.
[V-ed] ...the most highly rated player in English football.
7) VERB If you rate someone or something, you think that they are good. [mainly BRIT, INFORMAL][V n] It's flattering to know that other clubs have shown interest and seem to rate me...
[V n] Its artistic value failed to move Paddy Clegg. `I don't know what all the fuss is about. I didn't rate it at all,' he said.
8) V-PASSIVE: no cont If someone or something is rated at a particular position or rank, they are calculated or considered to be in that position on a list.[be V-ed n] He is generally rated Italy's No. 3 industrialist...
[be V-ed ord] He came here rated 100th on the tennis computer.
Syn:ranked9) VERB: no cont If you say that someone or something rates a particular reaction, you mean that this is the reaction you consider to be appropriate.[V n] This is so extraordinary, it rates a medal and a phone call from the President...
[V n] In those crowded streets her attire did not rate a second glance.
Syn:10) → See also rating11) PHRASE: PHR with cl You use at any rate to indicate that what you have just said might be incorrect or unclear in some way, and that you are now being more precise.She modestly suggests that `sex, or at any rate gender, may account for the difference'...
He is the least appealing character, to me at any rate.
12) PHRASE: PHR with cl You use at any rate to indicate that the important thing is what you are saying now, and not what was said before.At any rate, Pankin said that relations between the two nations will be restored before the conference...
Well, at any rate, let me thank you for all you did.
13) PHRASE: PHR with cl If you say that at this rate something bad or extreme will happen, you mean that it will happen if things continue to develop as they have been doing.At this rate, she would be almost seven feet tall by then...
At this rate they'd be lucky to get home before eight-thirty or nine.
English dictionary. 2008.
