Meaning & use
rate
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Meanings
nouncountable
A measurement of how often something happens or how much of something there is, compared with another amount such as time or population.
Grammar: Often followed by of: the rate of growth; or by per: five dollars per hour.
Patterns
- the rate of something
- a rate per hour
- at a rate of something
The unemployment rate fell for the third month in a row.
Water was leaking at a rate of two liters a minute.
The birth rate in the region has dropped sharply.
nouncountable
The price charged for a service or the amount paid or earned for a unit of time or work.
Grammar: Often used in the plural for repeated charges: hotel rates, interest rates.
Patterns
- a rate for something
- an hourly rate
The hotel offers a lower rate if you stay a full week.
Her hourly rate as a tutor is thirty dollars.
Banks have raised the interest rate again.
nounsingular
The speed at which something moves or progresses.
Grammar: Used mostly in set phrases such as at this rate or at a steady rate.
Patterns
- at this rate
- at a steady rate
At this rate, we will not finish before midnight.
The ice cap is shrinking at an alarming rate.
He walked at a rate that left the others behind.
verbtransitive
To judge how good, valuable or skilled something or someone is, often by giving a score.
Grammar: Takes an object and often a rating: rate the film four stars.
Patterns
- rate something as something
- rate something highly
- rate someone as something
Customers rated the restaurant four stars out of five.
Critics rate her as one of the finest violinists of her generation.
I would rate this phone higher than my old one.
verbtransitiveinformal
To deserve or earn something such as attention or a place.
Grammar: Often used in the negative and informally: it didn't rate a mention.
Patterns
- rate a mention
The accident was minor and barely rated a line in the paper.
Does that joke even rate a smile?
His new film rates a place among the year's best.
Word forms
| plural | rates |
|---|---|
| third person singular | rates |
| past tense | rated |
| past participle | rated |
| -ing form | rating |
Common combinations
- interest rate
- A lower interest rate makes mortgages cheaper.
- at a rate of
- The population is growing at a rate of two percent a year.
- at this rate
- At this rate, the garden will be finished by Friday.
- rate highly
- Teachers rate the new textbook highly.
- heart rate
- Exercise raises your heart rate.
- exchange rate
- The exchange rate changed overnight.
Synonyms and how they differ
- speed
- Speed describes how fast something moves, whereas rate can measure any amount per unit, such as births per thousand.
- price
- Price is the cost of a single item, while rate usually applies to a repeating charge such as hourly pay.
- rank
- Rank places something in order against others, but rate gives it a grade on its own merits.
- evaluate
- Evaluate is more formal and implies careful analysis, while rate can be a quick score.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: rate or ratio? rate or rat?
rate vs ratio
A ratio compares two quantities, like 2:1, while a rate compares an amount against something that changes such as time.
rate vs rat
A rat is an animal, and the rate word is pronounced with a long vowel.
Practice
If prices keep climbing at this ____, we won't be able to afford the apartment.
Choose one answer.
At this rate is a fixed phrase meaning if things continue at this speed. Ratio compares two numbers and does not fit the idiom.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “rate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.