Meaning & use
hare
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Meanings
nouncountable
A fast-running wild animal like a rabbit, but larger, with long ears and powerful back legs.
Grammar: Plural is hares, though hare is sometimes used for a group.
Patterns
- a hare in a field
A hare bolted across the meadow at dawn.
Unlike rabbits, hares do not dig burrows.
The old tale compares the slow tortoise with the speedy hare.
verbintransitiveinformalBritish
To run or travel very fast, often without caution.
Grammar: No object; often followed by off, along or after: hare off down the road.
Patterns
- hare off
- hare along
- hare after someone
The children hared down the hill toward the ice cream van.
He hared off to catch the bus.
She hared after the runaway puppy.
Word forms
| plural | hares |
|---|---|
| third person singular | hares |
| past tense | hared |
| -ing form | haring |
Common combinations
- a wild hare
- A wild hare froze in the long grass.
- hare and tortoise
- The class acted out the hare and tortoise fable.
- mad as a March hare
- He was running about as mad as a March hare.
- hare off
- She hared off before anyone could stop her.
- hare coursing
- Hare coursing is banned in many countries.
- run like a hare
- The boy ran like a hare.
Synonyms and how they differ
- rabbit
- A rabbit is smaller, with shorter ears, and lives in burrows, unlike a hare.
- dash
- Dash is a general word for running quickly, but hare is more informal and British.
- race
- Race suggests competition or speed, while hare simply means to run at high speed.
- bolt
- Bolt means to run away suddenly from danger, which is a narrower use than hare.
Opposites
Word family
- harebrained adjective
- foolish and not carefully planned
- harebell noun
- a delicate blue wildflower
- leveret noun
- a young hare
Commonly confused: hare or hair? hare or rabbit?
hare vs hair
Hair grows on the head or body. It sounds the same as hare but has a different spelling and meaning.
hare vs rabbit
Rabbits are smaller and live in burrows, whereas hares are bigger and rest on the ground in a shallow hollow.
Practice
The ___ was spotted racing across the open field, much larger than any rabbit.
Choose one answer.
A hare is the large, fast animal related to the rabbit. Hair, hear and heir are not animals but have other meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hare”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.