Race Meaning

/ɹeɪs/
A2

Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounA contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective.

nounSwift progress; rapid motion; an instance of moving or driving at high speed.

Having run the race, Jane had two glasses of barley tea.
He came in fifth in the race.
The race ended with eight laps of a city centre circuit.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The city's annual marathon is a long-distance ____ that begins at dawn.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She trained for months to compete in the annual ten-kilometer ____ through the city center.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁s-der. Proto-Germanic *rēsōder. Proto-West Germanic *rās Old English rǣs ▲ Proto-Germanic *rēsō Old Norse rásbor. Middle English race English race From Middle English race, partially from Old English rǣs (“a race, swift or violent running, rush, onset”), from Proto-West Germanic *rās; and partially from Old Norse rás (“a running, race”); both from Proto-Germanic *rēsō (“a course”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁s- (“to flow, rush”). Cognate with Middle Low German râs ("a strong current"; whence German Low German Raas (“mad rush, rage, fury”)), Dutch ras (“a strong whirling current”), Danish ræs, Norwegian and Swedish ras, Norwegian rås.

"I returned, and saw vnder the Sunne, That the race is not to the swift, nor the battell to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of vnderstanding, nor yet fauour to men of skil; but time and chance happeneth to them all." — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ecclesiastes 9:11:
""Behold that rival here! / "The race by vigour, not by vaunts is won; / "So take the hindmost, Hell."—He said, and run." — 1743, Alexander Pope, The Dunciad, London: M. Cooper, book 2, page 82, lines 58–60:
"After days of intensifying pressure from runners, politicians and the general public to call off the New York City Marathon in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, city officials and the event’s organizers decided Friday afternoon to cancel the race." — 2012 November 2, Ken Belson, “After Days of Pressure, Marathon Is Off”, in The New York Times:
"The flight of many birds is swifter than the race of any beasts." — 1631, Francis [Bacon], “VII. Century. [Experiments Solitary touching the Quicknesse of Motion in Birds.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, page 166:
"Hence the rapid race / Of light, and lustre from th' effusive sun" — 1805, Good, John Mason, transl., The Nature of Things, volume 2, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, translation of De rerum natura by Titus Lucretius Carus, book 4, page 33, lines 190–191:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
The city's annual marathon is a long-distance ____ that begins at dawn.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She trained for months to compete in the annual ten-kilometer ____ through the city center.

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