rate
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The proportional relationship between one amount, value etc.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
raytIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹeɪt
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The proportional relationship between one amount, value etc. and another.
The price of (an individual) thing; cost.
A magnitude or frequency relative to a time unit
“They traveled at a rate of 55 miles per hour.”
A set price or charge for all examples of a given case, commodity, service etc.
The relative speed of progress or change
Any of various taxes, especially those levied by a local authority.
verb
transitive
To evaluate or estimate the value of.
“How would you rate his chances to become President?”
transitive
To deserve; to be worth.
Assign a rank or rating to
transitive
To assign or be assigned a particular rank or level.
transitivechiefly british
To evaluate a property's value for the purposes of local taxation.
Be worthy of or have a certain rating
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The proportional relationship between one amount, value etc. and another.
Used this way, rate is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in relationships contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Relationships
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Magnitudenoun
“They traveled at a rate of 55 miles per hour.”
Evaluateverb
“How would you rate his chances to become President?”
More ways to use rate
- “They traveled at a rate of 55 miles per hour.”noun
- “A 10-minute phone call at that rate would cost $5.”noun
- “How would you rate his chances to become President?”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A local tax on property (usually used in the plural).
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The amount of fluid that flows in a given time.
The rate of increase in size per unit time.
The rate of change of prices (as indicated by a price index) calculated on a monthly or annual basis.
The percentage of a sum of money charged for its use.
Amount of money received per unit time.
The amount of money paid out per unit time.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to evaluate or estimate the value of
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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.