rated

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of rate.

   The agency rated the bonds as low-risk investments.

   The appliance was rated for outdoor use only.

   Note

   A regular verb, so one spelling does three jobs: the simple past (the agency rated the bonds), the perfect (has rated) and the passive (was rated). The passive does much of the work, and the preposition after it carries the meaning: rated as a category, rated for a use, rated at a figure. In British usage, a property can also be rated, meaning valued for local taxation.

2. 2
   adjective

   Assigned a particular rating, rank, or level of quality.

   Investors tend to prefer highly rated bonds with stable returns.

   Critics consider it the most highly rated novel of the decade.

   Similarranked, regarded, graded

   Oppositeunrated

   Note

   This sense almost never stands alone. It needs a word in front saying how high or low the rating is: highly rated, top-rated, low-rated. Compounds like top-rated take a hyphen before a noun (a top-rated hotel) and are usually written open after a verb (the hotel is top rated). Adverbs ending in -ly, such as highly, never take the hyphen in either position.

3. 3
   adjective

   Specifying the maximum load, voltage, or similar value at which a device is designed to function safely and properly.

   The cable's rated current must not be exceeded during operation.

   Engineers checked that the load stayed below the transformer's rated capacity.

   Similarnominal

   Note

   An engineer's word that stands in front of the quantity it limits: rated voltage, rated current, rated load, rated capacity. The figure is a design ceiling, not a typical working value. A device running at its rated load is at the edge of what it was built for, and the rating exists to mark the point not to pass. It comes from the verb rate, meaning to set a machine's limits of safe functioning.

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