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raid

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A quick hostile or predatory incursion or invasion in a battle.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

rayd
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɹeɪd

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. military

    A quick hostile or predatory incursion or invasion in a battle.

  2. sports

    An attacking movement.

  3. law enforcement

    An attack or invasion for the purpose of making arrests, seizing property, or plundering.

verb

  1. transitive

    To lure from another; to entice away from.

  2. transitive

    To indulge oneself by taking from.

  3. transitive

    To engage in a raid against.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A quick hostile or predatory incursion or invasion in a battle.

Used this way, raid is a specialist word with a clearly unfavourable pull. This is a military use: it belongs to service and operational language.

Emotional tone
Negative
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Serious and weighty
Usage feel
Clinical and detached

Where it naturally appears

  • Military
  • Historical writing
  • News/reporting
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use raid

  • “T. Boone Pickens raided many large companies.”verb
  • “The police raided the crack house.”verb
  • “The pirates raided the coastal villages regularly.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

air raidpolice raidbombing raidraid sheltersuccessful raidfirst raidnight raidindian raid

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • raidernounInflected form

    Someone who takes spoils or plunder (as in war).

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • air-raid shelternounCompound term

    A chamber (often underground) reinforced against bombing and provided with food and living facilities.

  • air raidnounCompound term

    An attack by armed planes on a surface target.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: quick hostile or predatory incursion

foray

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.