Dictionaries › English

rash

Pronunciation: /ɹæʃ/

The English word “rash” has 20 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Acting too quickly without considering the consequences and risks; not careful; hasty.
  2. Of corn or other grains: so dry as to fall out of the ear with handling.
  3. Requiring swift action; pressing; urgent.
  4. Taking effect quickly and strongly; fast-acting.

adverb

  1. Synonym of rashly (“in a rash manner; hastily or without due consideration”).

noun

  1. An area of inflamed and irritated skin characterized by reddened spots that may be filled with fluid or pus. Also, preceded by a descriptive word (rare or obsolete), an illness characterized by a type of rash.
  2. An irregular distribution or sprinkling of objects resembling a rash (sense 1).
  3. An outbreak or surge in problems; a spate, string, or trend.
  4. Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word: a fabric with a smooth texture woven from silk, worsted, or a mixture of the two, intended as an inferior substitute for silk.
  5. A soft crackling or rustling sound.

verb

  1. To forcefully move or push (someone or something) in a certain direction.
  2. To break (something) forcefully; to smash.
  3. To emit or issue (something) hastily.
  4. Usually followed by up: to prepare (something) with haste; to cobble together, to improvise.
  5. To move forcefully, hastily, or suddenly; to dash, to rush.
  6. To fall heavily; to dash down.
  7. Chiefly followed by against, at, or upon: To collide or hit.
  8. Chiefly followed by away, down, off, out, etc.: to pluck, pull, or rip (something) violently.
  9. To hack, slash, or slice (something).
  10. Chiefly followed by out: to scrape or scratch (something); to obliterate.

Etymology

The adjective is derived from Middle English rash, rasch (“hasty, headstrong, rash”) [and other forms], probably from Old English *ræsċ (“rash”) (found in derivatives such as ræsċan (“to move rapidly; to flicker; to flash; to glitter; to quiver”), ræsċettan (“to crackle, sparkle”), etc.), from Proto-West Germanic *rask, *raskī, *rasku, from Proto-Germanic *raskaz, *raskuz, *raþskaz, *raþskuz…

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “rash” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.