rate

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The amount charged or paid for something.

   A ten-minute phone call at that rate would cost five dollars.

2. 2
   noun

   How fast something happens or how often it occurs over time.

   They traveled at a rate of 55 miles per hour.

3. 3
   noun

   An amount measured as a proportion of something else.

   The literacy rate in the region has risen sharply.

4. 4
   verb

   To judge how good or valuable someone or something is.

   How would you rate their chances of winning?

From Middle English raten (“to scold, chide”), from Old Norse hrata (“to refuse, reject, slight, find fault with”), from Proto-Germanic *hratōną (“to sway, shake”), from Proto-Indo-European *krad- (“to swing”). Cognate with Swedish rata (“to reject, refuse, find fault, slight”), Norwegian rata (“to reject, cast aside”), Old English hratian (“to rush, hasten”).

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