rates
C1Formal/Neutral (in business, economics, technical contexts); neutral in general usage.
Definition
Meaning
Standardized measures of cost, frequency, speed, or occurrence; fixed or relative amounts.
In economics: price levels for goods/services; in finance: interest levels; in general: speeds or frequencies; in local taxation (UK): property taxes payable to councils.
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
Primarily a count noun in plural form, even when referring to a single concept (e.g., 'interest rates'). The singular 'rate' is used for a specific measure. The UK-specific local tax sense is a distinct lexical item (council tax).
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
UK: 'Rates' is a specific term for local property taxes (historical/formal, replaced by Council Tax but still used for business premises). US: 'Rates' almost never refers to local property taxes; 'property taxes' or 'millage rates' are used.
Connotations
UK: Can evoke discussions of local government funding and business costs. US: Primarily financial (interest, exchange) or measurement (speed, success).
Frequency
High frequency in both varieties in financial/economic contexts. The UK-specific tax sense is common in news/political discourse regarding business or local government.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
[VERB] + rates (e.g., raise, lower, set, peg)rates + [VERB] (e.g., rates rise, rates fluctuate)rates + [PREP] + [NOUN] (e.g., rates of interest, rates for loans)[ADJ] + rates (e.g., high, low, fixed)Vocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “At a rate of knots (UK: very quickly)”
- “At any rate (anyway, in any case)”
- “First-rate / second-rate (of high/poor quality)”
Usage
Context Usage
Business
Crucial for discussing financing, loans, currency exchange, and pricing strategies.
Academic
Used in economics, statistics, medicine, and social sciences to denote measured frequencies or ratios.
Everyday
Common when discussing bank loans, fuel prices (litres per km), or success/failure metrics (e.g., pass rates).
Technical
Precise measurements in engineering (flow rates), computing (data transfer rates), or demography (birth rates).
Examples
By Part of Speech
verb
British English
- He rates that restaurant as the best in town.
- The film was rated highly by critics.
- How would you rate your pain on a scale of 1 to 10?
American English
- She rates her chances of promotion as good.
- This issue rates high on the company's priority list.
- The coach rated the player's performance.
adverb
British English
- (Not applicable – 'rate' does not function as a standard adverb. Archaic 'rate' as in 'at any rate' is a fixed phrase.)
American English
- (Not applicable – 'rate' does not function as a standard adverb.)
adjective
British English
- This is a rate-sensitive investment.
- We need a rate card for the new advertising slots.
- The ratepayer protested the increase (UK-specific).
American English
- It's a rate-controlled utility.
- They offer rate-lock mortgages.
- The rate hike was expected.
Examples
By CEFR Level
- Hotel rates are higher in the summer.
- The heart rates of the runners were very fast.
- Interest rates have gone up this year.
- They offer very good exchange rates at this bank.
- What are the success rates for this medical treatment?
- The central bank is expected to adjust interest rates to combat inflation.
- Rates of deforestation have slowed in the protected region.
- Small businesses are struggling with rising business rates.
- The correlation between literacy rates and economic development is well-established.
- Fluctuating currency rates pose a significant risk to the export market.
- The actuarial tables calculated mortality rates based on the new data.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think of a heart RATE monitor showing multiple heart RATES over time. The plural 'S' indicates you're comparing or listing different levels.
Conceptual Metaphor
PRICE/SPEED IS A LEVEL ON A SCALE (rates go up/down); FREQUENCY IS A MEASURED FLOW (rates of occurrence).
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- Avoid translating as 'рейты' (anglicism). Use 'ставки' (interest/tax rates), 'курсы' (exchange rates), 'тарифы' (utility rates), 'уровни' (success rates), 'скорость' (rate of speed).
- The UK tax 'rates' is not 'налоги' but specifically 'местный налог на имущество'.
Common Mistakes
- Using 'rates' as an uncountable noun (*'The rates is high'). It is plural.
- Confusing 'rate' (singular) and 'rates' (plural) in subject-verb agreement.
- Using 'price' instead of 'rate' for services charged per unit/time (e.g., hourly rate, not *hourly price).
Practice
Quiz
In a UK context, what might 'business rates' specifically refer to?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
In common usage for concepts like interest or exchange, yes, it is almost always used in the plural ('interest rates') even when referring to a single prevailing level. The singular 'rate' is used for a specific, defined measure ('a rate of 5%').
A 'price' is the amount of money required to purchase a specific item or service. A 'rate' is a measure of cost (or speed/frequency) per unit of something else (e.g., per hour, per year, per mile, per 1000 people). You pay a price for a coffee, but you are charged an hourly rate for a lawyer.
Historically, the 'rates' was a local tax system based on the estimated rental value of a property. While largely replaced for domestic properties by the 'Council Tax', the term 'business rates' is still the official name for the tax paid on non-domestic (commercial) properties to fund local services.
Yes, in a measured context. For example, 'growth rate', 'metabolic rate', 'data transfer rate'. In these cases, it means a measured quantity per unit of time.