race

1 of 3

noun (1)

ˈrās 

plural races

1

a

see usage paragraph below : any one of the groups that humans are often divided into based on physical traits regarded as common among people of shared ancestry

It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer … to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual … because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin …

—Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, United States Code

… family trees made more complicated by the intersection of different races …

—Michael A. Chaney

First, the [2020 US Census] question [about race] is based on how you identify. Second, the race categories generally reflect social definitions in the U.S. and are not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically. We recognize that the race categories include racial and national origins and sociocultural groups.

—United States Census Bureau

To the extent that economic opportunity is expanded, race relations are improved.

—Tom McClintock

also : the fact of dividing people, or of people being divided, into such groups : categorization by race

The Army will remove photographs of candidates in promotion board hearings … as part of an effort to address why so many black officers are being passed over in favor of their white counterparts … . The removal of photos by the military's largest service is a tacit acknowledgment of how much race still plays a part in decisions about who should advance.

—Helene Cooper

The U.S. is going through a social and political upheaval, offering an opportunity to undertake a necessary, hard look at the role of race in defining what kind of a nation the U.S. is now and has been historically.

—William C. Danvers

Even when a new show promises to break new ground … we are forced to swallow more of the same—a general erasure or ignorance of race.

—Roxane Gay

b

dated : a group of people sharing a common cultural, geographical, linguistic, or religious origin or background

The Yorkshire type had always been the strongest of the British strains; the Norwegian and the Dane were a different race from the Saxon.

—Henry Adams

… this girl, Dolores by name, and a Catalonian by race …

—Charlotte Brontë

c

archaic : the descendants of a common ancestor : a group sharing a common lineage

… by descent I am the head not only of my own race, which ends with me, but of the Haughton family, of which, though your line assumed the name, it was but a younger branch.

—Edward Bulwer-Lytton

This forest was adjacent to the chief haunts of the MacGregors, or a particular race of them, known by the title of MacEagh …

—Sir Walter Scott

2

a

: a group of living things considered as a category

… the whole race of mankind … stumbling and blundering along the path of life …

—Anne Brontë

… Nan denounced the entire race of boys as "plaguey things."

—Louisa May Alcott

… countless asters, … tansies, golden-rods, and the whole race of yellow flowers …

—Henry David Thoreau

… full many a man loves his dog better than the rest of mankind, and so the devotion of the race of dogs finds return and recompense.

—Wardon Allan Curtis

Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt star in a sci-fi thriller set in the near future, when an alien race has attacked Earth.

—Barbara Vancheri

When the last century ended, humans could not even fly. In the 20th century, the human race went to the moon and began to explore the stars.

—sfgate.com

b

archaic : breed

Under these conditions, a race of highly … delicate, and gentle cattle had been developed.

—Henry E. Alvord

c

obsolete : the act of breeding or producing offspring

Male he created thee, but thy consort female for race …

—John Milton

It behooveth therefore that the Mares appointed for race, be well compacted, of a decent quality, … in age not under three nor above ten years old.

—Edward Topsell

3

biology : a group within a species that is distinguishable (as morphologically, genetically, or behaviorally) from others of the same species

This quail species is diverse and can be classified into 21 recognized geographic races in North America …

—Eric T. Thacker and Tim L. Springer

also : a usually informal taxonomic category representing such a group that is often considered equivalent to a subspecies

4

archaic : a group of people sharing some habit or characteristic (such as profession or belief)

… the whole race of politicians put together.

—Jonathan Swift

The Apostles, though they were fishers too, were of the solemn race of sea-fishers …

—Henry David Thoreau

… the race of domestic clowns or jesters, maintained in the houses of the wealthy …

—Sir Walter Scott

… to become a Dissenter seemed to him identical with choosing God instead of mammon. That race of Dissenters is extinct in these days, when opinion has got far ahead of feeling …

—George Eliot

… our daughters haunt the town as if searching for something they missed, walking up beside the rocks with books in their arms like a race of little nuns.

—John Updike

5

obsolete : temperament, disposition

And now I give my sensual race the rein …

—William Shakespeare

Usage of Race

Sense 1a of this entry describes the word race as it is most frequently used: to refer to the various groups that humans are often divided into based on physical traits, these traits being regarded as common among people of a shared ancestry. This use of race dates to the late 18th century, and was for many years applied in scientific fields such as physical anthropology, with race differentiation being based on such qualities as skin color, hair form, head shape, and particular sets of cranial dimensions. Advances in the field of genetics in the late 20th century determined no biological basis for races in this sense of the word, as all humans alive today share 99.99% of their genetic material. For this reason, the concept of distinct human races today has little scientific standing, and is instead understood as primarily a sociological designation, identifying a group sharing some outward physical characteristics and some commonalities of culture and history.

race

2 of 3

noun (2)

plural races

1

a

: a competition between people, animals, vehicles, etc., to determine which one is the fastest : a contest of speed

runners in a race

a bicycle race

… only eight of the 26 cars that began the race were running at the end, through streets that were better suited to conveying rattletrap taxicabs than million-dollar race cars.

—Sam Moses

b

: a contest or competition in which different people, groups, or teams try to win something or to do something first

a tight race for governor

the race to create a vaccine

a baseball pennant race

—often used figuratively to suggest that something (such as life itself) is like a contest or competition

He discussed terms for publishing his book. But over his face was that gossamery look of having dropped out of the race of progress, which made the vulgar city people feel they had won it over him …

—D. H. Lawrence

… men in the race of life, sink from the high and generous ideals of youth to the gambler's code of the Bourse; and in all our Nation's striving is not the Gospel of Work befouled by the Gospel of Pay?

—W. E. B. Du Bois

In contemporary middle-class American culture, parenting is seen as an awesome responsibility, an unforgiving vigil to keep the helpless infant from falling behind in the great race of life.

—Steven Pinker

c

races plural : an event at which there is a series of horse races

a trip to the races

2

a

literary : a set course (such as the apparent movement of the sun along a path over the period of a day) or a duration of time

Till a sun whose race is ending / Sees the rival stars contending

—Edward Bulwer-Lytton

If the midnight bell / Did with his iron tongue and brazen mouth / Sound on into the drowsy race of night

—William Shakespeare

b

archaic : a person's progression through life or through a period in life

… voices from the great cloud of witnesses who ever surround us in the race of life.

—Harriet Beecher Stowe

3

: a track or channel in which something rolls or slides

specifically : a groove for the balls in a ball bearing or rollers in a roller bearing

The bearing has already spalled which is why it's making noise. No … additive can fix that, nor can it remove the particles of bearing race and roller from the lube in your differential housing.

—B. Howing

see roller bearing illustration

4

a

: a strong or rapid current of water that flows through a narrow channel

b

: a watercourse used or made for an industrial purpose (such as mining or for turning the waterwheel of a mill)

Close to the furnace site today, on public park property, are the remains of the old facility's dam and water race.

—Maryland Magazine

see also a race against time

race

3 of 3

verb

raced; racing

intransitive verb

1

: to compete in a race

2

: to go, move, or function at top speed or out of control

people racing for safety

struggled to sleep as his mind raced

3

: to revolve too fast under a diminished load

transitive verb

1

: to engage in a race with

2

a

: to enter in a race

b

: to drive or ride at high speed

c

: to transport or propel at maximum speed

3

: to speed (an engine) without a working load or with the transmission disengaged

Synonyms

Noun (2)

• blood
• clan
• family
• folks
• house
• kin
• kindred
• kinfolk
• kinfolks
• kinsfolk
• line
• lineage
• people
• stock
• tribe

Verb

• battle
• compete
• contend
• face off
• fight
• rival
• vie

Examples of race in a Sentence

Noun (2)

the last descendent of a race of kings

Winston Churchill's famous hope and prediction that World War II would be remembered by future generations as the finest hour of the Britannic race

Eight horses will race for the cup.

That horse will never race again.

She's going to race the champion.

They raced each other home.

I'll race you to see who gets there first.

She races cars for a living.

The flood raced through the valley.

The truck's engine was racing.

The dog raced ahead of me.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Buy Now: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil on Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble Great Black Hope, Rob Franklin (June 10) Poet Rob Franklin’s debut, Great Black Hope, is a coming-of-age whodunit about race, class, and addiction. —Shannon Carlin, Time, 22 May 2025

The Monaco Grand Prix, first held in 1929, is one of the most iconic and prestigious races in motorsport. —Erica Wertheim Zohar, Forbes.com, 22 May 2025

Verb

Over the past century the price of gold has raced at a 2.2% average annual rate above inflation. —William Baldwin, Forbes.com, 24 May 2025

The United Nations human rights lawyer took a pause from racing for three years during her fertility journey, which included miscarriages and multiple rounds of IVF. —Gabrielle Rockson, People.com, 22 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle French, generation, from Old Italian razza

Noun (2)

Middle English ras, from Old Norse rās; akin to Old English rǣs rush

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1547, in the meaning defined at sense 1c

Noun (2)

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2b

Verb

1671, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Phrases Containing race

• a race against the clock
• a race against time
• arms race
• claiming race
• critical race theory
• drag race
• flat race
• horse race
• master race
• mixed race
• obstacle race
• pre-race
• race-baiting
• race car
• race riot
• rat race
• sack race
• selling race
• stakes race
• the rat race
• three-legged race
• use/play the race/gender card

Rhymes for race

• ace
• base
• brace
• case
• chace
• dace
• face
• grace
• lace
• mace
• pace
• place

Kids Definition

race

1 of 3 noun

ˈrās 

1

: a strong or rapid current of water or its channel

2

a

: a contest of speed

b

: a contest involving progress toward a goal

the race for governor

race

2 of 3 verb

raced; racing

1

: to take part in a race

2

: to go, move, or function at top speed

people racing for safety

a heart racing from excitement

3

: to take part in a race against

I'll race you home

4

: to cause the engine of a motor vehicle to go fast especially when in neutral

race

3 of 3 noun

1

: a group of living things considered as a category

the human race

2

archaic : breed

3

: a group of people who share a common culture or history

the English race

—used especially in the past

4

: any one of the groups that humans are often divided into based on physical traits or ancestry

people of different races

also : categorization into such groups

Etymology

Noun

Middle English ras "the act of running, a rapid current of water," of Norse origin

Noun

from early French race "generation," from early Italian razza (same meaning)

Medical Definition

race

noun

ˈrās 

1

: a group within a species that is distinguishable (as morphologically, genetically, or behaviorally) from others of the same species

This quail species is diverse and can be classified into 21 recognized geographic races in North America …

—Eric T. Thacker and Tim L. Springer

also : a usually informal taxonomic category representing such a group that is often considered equivalent to a subspecies

2

: any one of the groups that humans are often divided into based on physical traits regarded as common among people of shared ancestry