RACE | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of race in English racenoun uk /reɪs/ us /reɪs/

race noun (COMPETITION)

Add to word list Add to word list A2 [ C ] a competition in which all the competitors try to be the fastest and to finish first: win/lose a race Do you know who won/lost the race?have a race Let's have a swimming race.race to They're taking part in a race to the top of Mont Blanc. C1 [ C ] an attempt to be the first to do or to get something: race for Kieran and Andrew are in a race for promotion. [ + to infinitive ] Three newspapers are involved in a race to publish the story.enter the race Another candidate has now entered the presidential race (= the attempt to be elected as president).race against time/the clock Finishing this project by December is going to be a race against time/the clock (= an attempt to finish fast within a time limit).  races [ plural ] a series of horse races in a particular place on one day: a day at the races He often has a day at the races. See more

• I was just congratulating Ceri on winning her race.
• If an athlete makes a false start, the race must be restarted.
• Several jockeys were arrested on suspicion of fixing the race.
• It was a real race against time to get all the costumes sewn for the play.
• He found three 400 metre races in two days hard going.

Competitions, & parts of competitions

• All-Ireland
• bathing beauty
• be a game of two halves idiom
• beauty contest
• beauty pageant
• bout
• bowl
• championship
• jayvee
• keirin
• local derby
• non-game
• non-major
• omnium
• tournament
• tournament bracket
• tourney
• triple crown
• ultra
• vert

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Competing and contending (non-sporting)

race noun (PEOPLE)

C1 [ C ] one of the main groups to which people are often considered to belong, based on physical characteristics that they are perceived to share such as skin colour, eye shape, etc.: People of many different races were living side by side. [ U ] the idea that people can be divided into different groups based on physical characteristics that they are perceived to share such as skin colour, eye shape, etc., or the dividing of people in this way: Discrimination on grounds of race will not be tolerated.transcend race What they don't realize is that these issues transcend (= rise above) race. Anyone can be affected. [ C, + sing/pl verb ] dated a group of people who share the same language, history, characteristics, etc.: The British are an island race.

• She teaches the students to have respect for different races and appreciate the diversity of other cultures.
• People should not be stigmatized on the basis of race.
• Today, many Americans are still grappling with the issue of race.
• Discrimination on the basis of race, gender, age or disability is not allowed.

raceverb uk /reɪs/ us /reɪs/

race verb (COMPETITION)

B1 [ I or T ] to (cause to) compete in a race: He has been racing for over ten years.race (against) I used to race (against) him when we were boys. He's racing three of his dogs on Saturday.

• Last time she raced against the Brazilian, she won by a whisker.
• He collects vintage cars, which he races occasionally.
• They raced against each other to settle the bet.
• He was racing against several more experienced runners.
• For religious reasons, she will not race on Sundays.

Competing in sport

• amateur league
• berth
• bring
• bring someone on phrasal verb
• bye
• bye week
• contention
• distance
• gear
• match
• non-competitor
• outduel
• park the bus idiom
• partner up phrasal verb
• play big idiom
• racing
• sideline
• slump
• sportsmanship
• square

See more results »

race verb (HURRY)

C1 [ I or T, usually + adv/prep ] to move or go fast: He raced down the street.race someone to something The ambulance raced (= quickly took) the injured to a nearby hospital.race by The summer seems to have raced by (= passed very quickly). He raced the car engine (= made it work faster than it needed to) as he sat impatiently at the traffic lights. to move fast

• speedHe ran back to his car and sped off.
• raceShe raced over and hugged me.
• flyShe flew across the room just in time to stop the baby falling off the chair.
• beltUK Traffic was belting along the motorway.
• tearA fire truck came tearing down the road.
• streakBullets streaked across the sky.

See more results » to run

• runShe saw him running down the street.
• sprintI had to sprint to catch the bus.
• jog"What do you do to keep fit?" "I jog and go swimming."
• raceHe raced up the stairs to answer the phone.
• rushEveryone rushed to the door when the alarm went off.
• dashHe dashed out the door after the dog.

See more results » Moving quickly

• agilely
• agility
• beetle
• belt
• bob up
• bomb
• bowl
• bowl down/along something phrasal verb
• burn
• flit
• forge ahead phrasal verb
• jump up
• light on your feet
• like the wind idiom
• lunge
• make a dash for something
• spin
• streaker
• whizz
• whoosh

See more results »

Idiom

someone's heart/mind/pulse races (Definition of race from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

race | American Dictionary

racenoun us /reɪs/

race noun (COMPETITION)

Add to word list Add to word list [ C ] a competition between people or animals to see who can get from the starting place to the finish before all the others: a horse race She won the 100-meter race in 11.06 seconds. [ C ] fig. A race is also an urgent effort: [ + to infinitive ] It was a race against time to get the project finished by Friday’s deadline. [ C ]   politics & government A race is also a competition to be elected to a political position: The governor of California plans to enter the presidential race.

race noun (PEOPLE)

[ C/U ] any social group into which humans can be divided according to perceived similarities in their physical characteristics: [ U ] Discrimination because of race is against the law. raceverb [ I/T ] us /reɪs/

race verb [I/T] (COMPETE)

to compete in a race or run a race with someone: [ I/T ] He’s been racing (cars) for over ten years. fig. To race is also to move fast or to happen quickly: [ I always + adv/prep ] The boys came racing across the playground. [ I always + adv/prep ] Last summer seemed to race by. (Definition of race from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of race

race To be more precise, he runs away from the law by defiantly refusing to win the race as the favourite competitor. From the Cambridge English Corpus Overall, the clines tended to be wider the further they were from the race centre. From the Cambridge English Corpus But, unlike them, she recognizes race even as she seeks to transcend it. From the Cambridge English Corpus It should also look into the issue whether regulatory competition is really a race and if so what do we mean by that. From the Cambridge English Corpus Or should they help and support each other and race to the top standards? From the Cambridge English Corpus By this time the statistics were not broken down by race (although, interestingly, the tribal breakdown remained). From the Cambridge English Corpus In addition to these factors, we also examine race and insurance status. From the Cambridge English Corpus The choice among all the actions that are simultaneously enabled at the same state is governed by the race policy. From the Cambridge English Corpus Cross-cutting subject areas include children and the family, disability, gender, mental health, old age, race/ethnicity and young people. From the Cambridge English Corpus The data were then re-examined in the light of the phylogenetic analysis by identifying the races to which the individuals used in the study belonged. From the Cambridge English Corpus Thus, this dataset represents the closest thing to a universe of advertisements that exists for these races. From the Cambridge English Corpus This vision is not afraid to give special recognition to the poor through, for example, race and gender preferences, because of their marginalisation. From the Cambridge English Corpus These associations remained significant after adjustments for age, gender, race, marital status and education. From the Cambridge English Corpus Her contact with even the best of this race is fatal. From the Cambridge English Corpus Over time, party differences on race grew increasingly stark, and new voters began to sort themselves into the two parties according to their racial ideology. From the Cambridge English Corpus See all examples of race These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with race

race

These are words often used in combination with race.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

alien racePeople will almost certainly want to communicate with an alien race if we know it exists. From the Cambridge English Corpus   bicycle raceWhat race meeting, what point-to-point meeting, does not involve the police controlling the traffic on the roads for a long period—much longer than for a bicycle race? From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0   canoe raceLike many of the races, the canoe race divides itself into two age groups. From Wikipedia This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.   These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. See all collocations with race What is the pronunciation of race?

Translations of race

in Chinese (Traditional) 比賽, 賽跑，速度競賽, 競爭… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 比赛, 赛跑，速度竞赛, 竞争… See more in Spanish carrera, raza, echar una carrera… See more in Portuguese corrida, raça, correr… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Tamil in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Telugu in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian स्पर्धा / जिथे स्पर्धक सर्वाधिक जलद राहून ती प्रथम पूर्ण करण्यासाठी प्रयत्न करतात, वंश, शर्यतीत असणे… See more 競走, 競争, レース… See more yarış, yarışma, müsabaka… See more course [feminine], race [feminine], faire la course… See more cursa, raça, fer una cursa… See more wedren, (laten) rennen, om het hardst lopen… See more அனைத்து போட்டியாளர்களும் வேகமாக செல்ல முயற்சிக்கும் ஒரு போட்டி மற்றும் முதலில் முடித்தல், தோல் நிறம், கண் வடிவம் போன்றவற்றைப் பகிர்ந்து கொள்ளக்கூடிய உடல் பண்புகளின் அடிப்படையில்… See more (प्रतियोगिता) रेस, दौड़, (मानव) प्रजाती… See more સ્પર્ધા, એક સ્પર્ધા જેમાં ભાગલેનાર તમામ સૌથી વધારે ઝડપ કરીને સૌ પ્રથમ પૂરી કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરે છે., વંશ… See more væddeløb, -væddeløb, løbe væddeløb… See more kapplöpning, hastighetstävling, tävla med… See more perlumbaan, melumba, berlumba… See more das Rennen, an einem Rennen teilnehmen, um die Wette laufen mit… See more løp [neuter], kappløp [neuter], kamp [masculine]… See more دوڑ, دوڑ کا مقابلہ, نسل… See more змагання на швидкість, брати участь у перегонах, змагатися в швидкості… See more పందెం, జాతి / చర్మం రంగు, కంటి ఆకారం మొదలైన భౌతిక లక్షణాలు ఒకేలా ఉండడం ఆధారంగా వ్యక్తులు తరచుగా ఒకే రకానికి చెందినవారిగా పరిగణించబడే ప్రధాన సమూహాలలో ఒకటి.… See more দৌড় প্রতিযোগিতা, জাতি, জাতিগত… See more závod, dostih, přihlásit k závodu… See more pacuan, memacu, berpacu… See more การแข่งขัน, แข่งวิ่งอย่างเร็ว, แข่งขันทางความเร็ว… See more cuộc đua, tham gia cuộc đua, cuộc thi… See more wyścig, rasa, walka… See more 경주, 인종, 경주 하다… See more gara, corsa, razza… See more Need a translator?

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rabidly rabies rabona raccoon race race car race car driver race discrimination race equality {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

More meanings of race

• arms race
• drag race
• human race
• rat race
• relay (race)
• race car
• flat race

See all meanings

• have a horse in the race idiom
• the race, gender, etc. card idiom
• have a horse in this race, at have a horse in the race idiom
• have a horse in that race, at have a horse in the race idiom

See all idioms and phrases

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• English   
  • Noun 
    • race (COMPETITION)
    • races
    • race (PEOPLE)
  • Verb 
    • race (COMPETITION)
    • race (HURRY)
• American   
  • Noun 
    • race (COMPETITION)
    • race (PEOPLE)
  • Verb 
    • race (COMPETE)
• Examples
• Collocations

• Translations
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