DictionaryAI

race

RAYS/ɹeɪs/

Pluralraces

Verbraces, racing, raced

36 meanings of race

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  1. 1
    sporting contestnouncountable or uncountable
    A contest among people, animals, or vehicles in which the goal is to be first to reach a set objective.

    Thousands of runners lined up for the start of the marathon race.

    The two sailboats fought a close race to the harbor.

    UsageYou run, win or lose a race; the race to + verb names the goal: the race to cure cancer.

    Similarcontest, competition

    Note

    The goal need not be a finish line, as in the race to cure cancer or a race to finish a book. The word for a group of people only looks the same. It arrived separately in the 1560s, through French from Italian razza.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Race meaning a group of people has a separate etymology and entered English in the 1560s through French from Italian razza. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 2
    skin color groupnouncountable or uncountable
    One of the large groups people are divided into according to shared physical features, such as skin color, and shared ancestry.

    The census asked respondents to identify their race.

    Unjust laws once divided citizens by race and denied many their rights.

    UsageOften in phrases with of or by: people of every race, of mixed race, divided by race.

    Note

    This grouping rests on appearance and presumed shared ancestry. Edward Burnett Tylor's "The Races of Mankind" (1881) shows the older method, sorting peoples by skull form, skin color and hair into types such as a "Mongoloid" race. Scientists now regard races as social categories rather than sharp biological divisions.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Racial grouping rests on perceived physical similarities and presumed shared ancestry. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
    • Tylor wrote “The Races of Mankind,” published in 1881. en.wikisource.org
    • Tylor's article distinguishes racial types using skull form, skin color and hair. en.wikisource.org
    • Tylor uses the designation “Mongoloid” race. en.wikisource.org
    • Modern science treats races as social categories rather than discrete biological divisions. genome.gov
  3. 3
    nouncountable
    A contest among candidates for an elected post, for power or for some other prize, most often a campaign for office.

    She entered the Senate race just six months before the primary.

    The race for the chairmanship has split the board into two camps.

    UsageThe office comes first or after for: the Senate race, the race for mayor; candidates enter or drop out of it.

    Similarcontest, campaign, competition

    Note

    Political reporting borrows the whole racetrack for this sense: candidates enter or drop out of the race, a front-runner leads, a dark horse surprises, and a close contest is neck and neck. Coverage that tracks only who is ahead is often criticized as horse-race journalism.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

  4. 4
    move fastverbintransitive
    To move or drive very fast; to rush or hurry.

    Paramedics race to the scene whenever a call comes in.

    She raced across town to make her flight.

    UsageUsually with a direction or to + verb: race across town, race to catch the bus.

    Similarrush, zoom, zip, shift

    Oppositedawdle, crawl, amble, stroll

    Note

    Speed here need not be literal. A heart races, and in Lee Mavers's "There She Goes" someone goes racing through the singer's brain.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

  5. 5
    verbintransitive
    To take part in a contest of speed, or to compete against someone or something in one.

    Amateur cyclists race in the city park each Sunday.

    He has raced professionally for over a decade.

    UsageYou race against a rival and for a team: she raced for her college team.

    Similarcompete

  6. 6
    verbtransitive
    To put a horse, car or other animal or vehicle into races, or to compete on or in it as its rider or driver.

    The family has raced thoroughbreds at Saratoga for three generations.

    Few private owners can afford to race a car at that level.

    Similarrun

    Note

    Owners race horses they never ride: a family that races thoroughbreds enters them, and jockeys do the riding. Context, especially words like own, enter or at a track, usually makes clear which role is meant.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Owners can have their horses compete without riding them themselves; jockeys ride on their behalf. yorkracecourse.co.uk
  7. 7
    elves and suchnouncountable or uncountable
    A large group of nonhuman beings distinguished from others by a shared heritage, as in fantasy or science fiction.

    In the novel, the dwarves are a proud race who carve their cities deep inside the mountains.

    Each playable race in the game has its own special abilities.

    Similarbreed, kind

    Note

    Fantasy and science fiction use it to sort their peoples: elves and men conclude a treaty as two races, and in BioWare's Mass Effect (2007) an entire alien race rests in one father's hands. Mythology got there first. Herman Isidore Stern's The Gods of Our Fathers (1898) counts two races of gods in Norse mythology. People and kind are close substitutes, but race keeps the stress on shared heritage, as in the human sense.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • BioWare developed Mass Effect, originally released in 2007. en.wikipedia.org
    • In Mass Effect, Tali describes her father as responsible for her entire alien race. en.wiktionary.org
    • Herman Isidore Stern's The Gods of Our Fathers describes two races of gods in Norse mythology. en.wiktionary.org
  8. 8
    nouncountable or uncountable
    A class or kind of people or things set apart by the qualities they share.

    Poets, she said, are a dreamy race who see the world differently.

    Sailors were long regarded as a hardy race, used to danger and hardship.

    UsageUsually with an adjective and often admiring: a hardy race, a patient race; also a race of + noun.

    Similarbreed, kind, type, sort, species

    Note

    The loosest of the human senses groups people by temperament or way of life rather than ancestry. Robert W. Service's "race of men that don't fit in" is a typical case.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Robert W. Service wrote the quoted words in The Men That Don't Fit In. gutenberg.org

More uses

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Origins

Meanings 1, 3–6, 9–11, 13–14, 16

The root is Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁s-, meaning to flow or rush, which gave Proto-Germanic *rēsō (a course). From that came both Old Norse rás (a running, race) and Old English rǣs (a race, a rush, swift or violent running), and the two together produced Middle English race.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

  • The ultimate root is Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁s-, meaning ‘to flow, rush’. en.wiktionary.org
  • Proto-Germanic *rēsō, meaning ‘a course’, derives from that root. en.wiktionary.org
  • Old Norse rás derives from *rēsō and means ‘a running, race’. en.wiktionary.org
  • Old English rǣs derives from *rēsō and means ‘a race, a rush, swift or violent running’. en.wiktionary.org
  • Middle English race resulted from the merger of the Old Norse borrowing and the inherited Old English word. en.wiktionary.org
Meanings 2, 7–8, 12, 15

Recorded by the 1550s, borrowed via Middle French race from Italian razza (early 14th century), a word of uncertain origin. Many theories have been suggested, from a Germanic word for line, from Arabic رَأْس (raʔs, head), from Latin generatio, radius, radix, or ratio, or from Old French haraz (troop of horses), but none is firmly established.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 14 facts