rates

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of rate.

   Mortgage rates climbed steadily throughout the year.

   The clinic charges different rates for each service.

   Note

   The everyday plural of a noun that covers price, speed and proportion, so the words around it decide the meaning: mortgage rates are charges, growth rates are speeds of change. The same spelling also serves the verb in "she rates" and the British local tax, which exists only in the plural. A determiner or a following verb usually shows which one you are reading.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of rate.

   He rates his employees at the end of each quarter.

   The agency rates each bond according to its risk.

   Note

   The present-tense form spans a family of judgments, and each one takes a direct object: an agency rates a bond, a manager rates staff, a minor story barely rates a mention. That last use means "deserves" rather than "assesses," so the subject is the thing being judged, not the judge. In a headline or list it can be mistaken for the plural noun.

3. 3
   nounAustraliaBritishHong KongNew Zealandplural

   Taxes levied by local government, usually charged on the value of property that a person or business occupies.

   Homeowners across the borough complained about the rising rates.

   Shopkeepers protested when the rates doubled in a single year.

   Similartaxes, levies

   Note

   A local-tax word of Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong, and it exists only in the plural. People pay the rates, or pay rates on a shop, but never a single rate in this meaning. Behind it lies the British verb sense of rating a property, which means valuing it for local taxation. Historically the charge was assessed on the rental or capital value of the premises occupied.

4. 4
   nouncolloquialpluralabbreviation

   Short form of interest rates.

   The central bank held rates steady at its latest meeting.

   Savers welcomed the higher rates on their deposits.

   Note

   Financial shorthand: once a central bank is the subject, the word "interest" drops away. The Fed cutting rates, a bank holding rates steady: verbs like cut, raise and hold carry the meaning, and the context supplies the rest. It is informal and at home in news and market talk. Where money is not obviously in view, write interest rates in full.

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