American Heritage Dictionary Entry: race HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key. Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window. guide to the dictionary THE USAGE PANEL The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions. The Panelists NEED HELP SOLVING A CROSSWORD PUZZLE? Go to our Crossword Puzzle Solver and type in the letters that you know, and the Solver will produce a list of possible solutions. -- AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android. THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more. OPEN DICTIONARY PROJECT Share your ideas for new words and new meanings of old words! Start Sharing Now! -- See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series! Find out more! INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES? Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com race 1 (rās) Share: Tweet n. 1. A group of people identified as distinct from other groups because of supposed physical or genetic traits shared by the group. Most biologists and anthropologists do not recognize race as a biologically valid classification, in part because there is more genetic variation within groups than between them. 2. A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution: the Celtic race. 3. A genealogical line; a lineage. 4. Humans considered as a group. 5. Biology a. A usually geographically isolated population of organisms that differs from other populations of the same species in certain heritable traits: an island race of birds. b. A breed or strain, as of domestic animals. 6. A distinguishing or characteristic quality, such as the flavor of a wine. adj. 1. Of or relating to race; racial: race relations; race quotas. 2. Of or relating to forms of popular entertainment made by and largely marketed to African Americans in the early 1900s: race literature; race records. [Middle French rasse, race, lineage, race, from Old Italian razza, probably from Old French haraz, stud farm for horses : Old French *har-, gray, gray-haired (as in French dialectal (Normandy) harousse, nag, old mare; perhaps in reference to the graying of stud horses with age and from Old Norse hārr, gray-haired, hoary; akin to English HOAR) or Old French *har-, hair (perhaps in reference to the fact that stud horses are no longer regularly saddled; akin to French dialectal (Norman) har, hair, in monter á har, to ride on hair, ride bareback, from Old Norse hār, hair; akin to English HAIR) + Old French -az, -as, n. suff. (from Latin -āceus, -aceous).] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. race 2 (rās) Share: Tweet n. 1. Sports a. A competition of speed, as in running or riding. b. races A series of such competitions held at a specified time on a regular course: a fan of the dog races. 2. An extended competition in which participants struggle like runners to be the winner: the presidential race. 3. Steady or rapid onward movement: the race of time. 4. a. A strong or swift current of water. b. The channel of such a current. c. An artificial channel built to transport water and use its energy. Also called raceway. 5. A groovelike part of a machine in which a moving part slides or rolls. 6. See slipstream. v. raced, rac·ing, rac·es v.intr. 1. Sports To compete in a contest of speed. 2. To move rapidly or at top speed: We raced home. My heart was racing with fear. 3. To run too rapidly due to decreased resistance or unnecessary provision of fuel: adjusted the idle to keep the engine from racing. v.tr. 1. Sports a. To compete against in a race. b. To cause to compete in a race: She races horses for a living. 2. To transport rapidly or at top speed; rush: raced the injured motorist to the hospital. 3. To cause (an engine with the gears disengaged, for example) to run swiftly or too swiftly. [Middle English ras, from Old Norse rās, rush, running; see ers- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. Race (rās), Cape Share: Tweet A promontory of southeast Newfoundland, Canada, on the coast of the Avalon Peninsula. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices: Indo-European Roots Semitic Roots The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. 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