The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - race° n.

1) foot-race, horse-race, marathon, rally or rallye; competition, contest, rivalry, contention: How many will be running in Saturday's race? Several countries had joined the race to complete a workable anti-gravity device. 2) sluice, flume, chute, watercourse, course, channel, bed, mill-race, raceway, spillway; track: The water in the race enabled us to wash the sand in order to extract the gold. The ball-bearings don't fall out because they are retained in the race. 3) the races. horse-races, dog-races, the dogs, the track, the turf, Brit racecourse, race meeting, US racetrack: We're off to the races at Newmarket. --v. 4) speed, hurry, hasten, dash, sprint, fly, rush, scramble, step lively, Colloq tear, rip, zip, step on the gas, step on it, hop to it, get a move on, Brit hare, US get a wiggle on: You're going to have to race to catch the last bus. 5) compete (with) : I'll race you to the gate and back.