• enPR: rās, IPA: /ɹeɪs/

race

1. A contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective. Example: Several horses run in a horse race, and the first one to reach the finishing post wins

   The race around the park was won by Johnny, who ran faster than the others.

   We had a race to see who could finish the book the quickest.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Ecclesiastes 9:11 ↗:

     I returned, and saw vnder the Sunne, That the race is not to the swift, nor the battell to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of vnderstanding, nor yet fauour to men of skil; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

2. Swift progress; rapid motion; an instance of moving or driving at high speed.
   • 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, Or, A Naturall Historie: In Ten Centuries

     The flight of many birds is swifter than the race of any beasts.

3. (computing) A race condition.
4. A progressive movement toward a goal.

   the race to cure cancer

5. A fast-moving current of water, such as that which powers a mill wheel.
6. A water channel, esp. one built to lead water to or from a point where it is utilised.
7. Competitive action of any kind, especially when prolonged; hence, career; course of life.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: Printed by J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398 ↗, line 598, [https://archive.org/stream/paradiseregaindp00milt_0#page/{}/mode/1up page 40]:

     My race of glory run, and race of ſhame,

8. The bushings of a rolling element bearing which contacts the rolling elements.

• French: course
• German: Rennen
• Italian: corsa, gara
• Portuguese: corrida
• Russian: го́нка
• Spanish: carrera

• French: course

• Russian: пове́рхность качение

race (races, present participle racing; past and past participle raced)

1. (intransitive) To take part in a race (in the sense of a contest).

   The drivers were racing around the track.

2. (transitive) To compete against in such a race.

   I raced him to the car, but he was there first, so he got to ride shotgun.

3. (intransitive) To move or drive at high speed; to hurry or speed.

   As soon as it was time to go home, he raced for the door.

   Her heart was racing as she peered into the dimly lit room.

4. (intransitive) Of a motor, to run rapidly when not engaged to a transmission.
   • 1891 (December) Arthur Conan Doyle, The Man with the Twisted Lip:

     "My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built."

• Italian: correre
• Portuguese: correr
• Spanish: correr

• French: élancer
• German: rasen
• Italian: correre
• Portuguese: correr
• Russian: мча́ться
• Spanish: acelerarse (usually a heart does this), embalarse (cars, engines, and cheetahs do this)

race

1. A group of sentient beings, particularly people, distinguished by common ancestry, heritage or characteristics:
   1. A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage (compare ethnic group). See Wikipedia's article on Race (historical_definitions).
      • 1838, Abraham Lincoln, Young Men's Lyceum address ↗

        We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them—they are a legacy bequeathed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors.

      • 1895 November 11, Joseph Chamberlain, Speech given to the Imperial Institute:

        I believe that the British race is the greatest of the governing races that the world has ever seen.

      • 1913, Martin Van Buren Knox, The religious life of the Anglo-Saxon race
   2. A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of common physical characteristics, such as skin color or hair type.

      Race was a significant issue during apartheid in South Africa.

      The Native Americans colonized the New World in several waves from Asia, and thus they are considered part of the same Mongoloid race.

   3. A large group of sentient beings distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage (compare species, subspecies).

      A treaty was concluded between the race of elves and the race of men.

      • 1898, Herman Isidore Stern, The gods of our fathers: a study of Saxon mythology, page 15)

        There are two distinct races of gods known to Norse mythology[.]

   4. A group of people distinguished from others on the basis of shared social characteristics.
2. (taxonomy) A population geographically separated from others of its species that develops significantly different characteristics; an informal term for a subspecies.
3. A breed or strain of domesticated animal.
4. (figuratively) A category or species of something that has emerged or evolved from an older one (with an implied parallel to animal breeding or evolutionary science).

   The advent of the Internet has brought about a new race of entrepreneur.

   Recent developments in artificial intelligence has brought about a new race of robots that can perform household chores without supervision.

5. (obsolete) Peculiar flavour, taste, or strength, as of wine; that quality, or assemblage of qualities, which indicates origin or kind, as in wine; hence, characteristic flavour.
6. (obsolete) Characteristic quality or disposition.

• subspecies
• breed
• variety

• French: race
• German: Rasse, Geschlecht
• Italian: razza
• Portuguese: raça, linhagem
• Russian: ра́са
• Spanish: raza

• French: race
• Italian: razza
• Portuguese: raça
• Russian: ра́са

• Italian: razza
• Portuguese: raça

• German: Rasse
• Portuguese: subespécie

• French: race
• German: Rasse
• Portuguese: raça
• Russian: порода

• Portuguese: categoria
• Russian: порода

race (races, present participle racing; past and past participle raced)

1. To assign a race to; to perceive as having a (usually specified) race.
   • 1996, Philosophical Studies in Education, page 151:

     To be raced as black in the U.S. translates symbolically into being considered inferior to whites, lazy, immoral, boisterous, violent, and sexually promiscuous.

   • 2006, Athena D. Mutua, Progressive Black Masculinities?, Routledge (ISBN 9781135869274), page 30:

     From this perspective, the project of progressive blackness entails the edification of black people and the elimination of all forms of domination that limit this edification for all those raced as black.

   • 2008, George Yancy, Black Bodies, White Gazes: The Continuing Significance of Race, Rowman & Littlefield (ISBN 9780742552982), page 46:

     By avoiding being raced as white, whites are able to maintain the illusion that they have always been individuals, that they have always accomplished their achievements through merit alone.

   • 2020 March 24, Sophie Lewis, [//www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/coronavirus-crisis-shows-its-time-abolish-family/ The coronavirus crisis shows it's time to abolish the family]:

     [T]he private family qua mode of social reproduction still, frankly, sucks. It genders, nationalizes and races us. It norms us for productive work.

race (plural races)

1. A rhizome or root, especially of ginger.
   • 1610, William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, Act IV, Scene III, line 45.

     I must have saffron to color the warden pies; mace; dates, none -- that's out of my note; nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger, but that I may beg; four pounds of prunes, and as many of raisins o' th' sun.

• Spanish: raíz

race (races, present participle racing; past and past participle raced)

1. Obsolete form of raze#English|raze.

1. Surname