rater

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪtə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From rate (“to appraise”) +‎ -er.

Noun

rater (plural raters)

1. One who provides a rating or assessment.

   The three raters agreed on the score.

Derived terms

• interrater
• intrarater

Related terms

• first-rater
• second-rater

Translations

one who rates or assesses

• Finnish: arvioija (fi), arviomies

Etymology 2

From rate (“to scold; berate”) +‎ -er.

Noun

rater (plural raters)

1. One who rates or scolds.

Related terms

• berate

Anagrams

• Arter, Terra, arrêt, arter, retar, tarre, terra

Catalan

Etymology

From rata +‎ -er.

Adjective

rater (feminine ratera, masculine plural raters, feminine plural rateres)

1. rat-catching

   Synonym: ratador

Noun

rater m (plural raters)

1. a member of the vesper bat subfamily Myotinae; a mouse-eared bat

Derived terms

• rater gros
• rater orlat

Further reading

• “rater”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

French

Etymology

Emerged in the early 1700s, likely originally in reference to a firearm misfiring, from the expression (1651) prendre un rat (“to misfire”, literally “to get a rat”), from rat (“rat”). More at rat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

rater

1. (transitive) to miss (an event or a thing) [first att. 1718]

   Il va rater le car. ― He's going to miss the bus.

2. (transitive, informal) to screw up; to mess up [first att. 1715]

   J'ai raté ma vie. ― I screwed up my life.

3. (intransitive, of a weapon) to fail to fire; to misfire [first att. 1718]

   Le revolver rata. ― The revolver misfired.

4. (intransitive, informal) to fail [first att. 1722]

   J'ignore pourquoi votre projet a raté. ― I don't know why your project failed.

Conjugation

Conjugation of rater (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	rater
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	ratant /ʁa.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		raté /ʁa.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	rate /ʁat/	rates /ʁat/	rate /ʁat/	ratons /ʁa.tɔ̃/	ratez /ʁa.te/	ratent /ʁat/
	imperfect	ratais /ʁa.tɛ/	ratais /ʁa.tɛ/	ratait /ʁa.tɛ/	rations /ʁa.tjɔ̃/	ratiez /ʁa.tje/	rataient /ʁa.tɛ/
	past historic2	ratai /ʁa.te/	ratas /ʁa.ta/	rata /ʁa.ta/	ratâmes /ʁa.tam/	ratâtes /ʁa.tat/	ratèrent /ʁa.tɛʁ/
	future	raterai /ʁa.tʁe/	rateras /ʁa.tʁa/	ratera /ʁa.tʁa/	raterons /ʁa.tʁɔ̃/	raterez /ʁa.tʁe/	rateront /ʁa.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	raterais /ʁa.tʁɛ/	raterais /ʁa.tʁɛ/	raterait /ʁa.tʁɛ/	raterions /ʁa.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	rateriez /ʁa.tə.ʁje/	rateraient /ʁa.tʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	rate /ʁat/	rates /ʁat/	rate /ʁat/	rations /ʁa.tjɔ̃/	ratiez /ʁa.tje/	ratent /ʁat/
	imperfect2	ratasse /ʁa.tas/	ratasses /ʁa.tas/	ratât /ʁa.ta/	ratassions /ʁa.ta.sjɔ̃/	ratassiez /ʁa.ta.sje/	ratassent /ʁa.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	rate /ʁat/	—	ratons /ʁa.tɔ̃/	ratez /ʁa.te/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• ne pas en rater une
• raté
• rater le coche

Descendants

• → Catalan: ratar
• Haitian Creole: rate

Further reading

• “rater”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• arrêt, errât, terra

Ladin

Verb

rater

1. to yield (a return)

Conjugation

• Ladin conjugation varies from one region to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of rater (first conjugation)

infinitive	rater, raté
auxiliary verb	avei		gerund		ratan
past participle	raté
person	singular			plural
	first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative	ie	tu	el / ela	nos	vos	ei / eles
present	rate, rateie	rates, rateies	rata, rateia, ratea	raton	rateis	rata, rateia
imperfect	ratove	ratoves	ratova	ratovan	ratovais	ratova
future	rataré	rataras	ratarà	rataron	ratareis	ratarà
subjunctive	che ie	che tu	che el / ela	che nos	che vos	che ei / eles
present	rate, rateie	rates, rateies	rate, rateie	raton	rateis	rate
imperfect	ratasse	ratasses	ratassa	ratassan	ratassais	ratassa
imperative	–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
	—	rata, rateia	—	raton	ratede	—

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

rater m

1. indefinite plural of rate

Portuguese

Etymology

Perhaps from French raté.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁa.teʁ/ [ˈha.teh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁa.teʁ/ [ˈha.teh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈʁa.teɾ/ [ˈha.teɾ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈʁa.teʁ/ [ˈχa.teχ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /ˈʁa.teɻ/ [ˈha.teɻ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʁa.tɛɾ/

• Hyphenation: ra‧ter

Noun

rater m (plural rateres)

1. (automotive, informal) backfire

   Ele ouviu muitos rateres durante o rali.

   He heard a lot of backfires during the rally.

Further reading

• “rater”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
• “rater”, in Dicionário Infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026