# rats

Pronunciation: US say "RATS" /ɹæts/; UK

## Noun

1. Plural of rat. — plural of rat
   - Simple: Plural of rat. Use this when you mean more than one rat.
   - _Rats scurried across the cellar floor when the light came on._
   - _The traps caught three rats in a single night._

## Interjection

2. Said to express annoyance, frustration, or mild disgust; a softer stand-in for damn or darn. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Said when you feel annoyed or fed up about something small.
   - _Rats! The printer jammed right before I had to hand in the report._
   - _Oh, rats, I forgot to charge my phone overnight again._
4. Said to express disbelief or skepticism about something just claimed. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Said when you find something too hard to believe.
   - _Rats, there's no way you ran the whole marathon in under three hours._
   - _Rats! You expect anyone to swallow that excuse?_

## Verb

3. Third-person singular simple present of rat. — third-person singular simple present indicative of rat
   - Simple: Third-person singular simple present of rat. Use this form with he, she, or it.
   - _He rats out his accomplices the moment investigators offer him a deal._
   - _Whenever profit is at stake, she rats on her closest business partners._

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/rats (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).