Library / English Dictionary

REAR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The side that goes last or is not normally seen

Example:

he wrote the date on the back of the photograph

Synonyms:

back; rear

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("rear" is a kind of...):

side (an extended outer surface of an object)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rear"):

after part; poop; quarter; stern; tail (the rear part of a ship)

empennage; tail; tail assembly (the rear part of an aircraft)

Antonym:

front (the side that is seen or that goes first)

Derivation:

rear (located in or toward the back or rear)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The fleshy part of the human body that you sit on

Example:

are you going to sit on your fanny and do nothing?

Synonyms:

arse; ass; backside; behind; bottom; bum; buns; butt; buttocks; can; derriere; fanny; fundament; hind end; hindquarters; keister; nates; posterior; prat; rear; rear end; rump; seat; stern; tail; tail end; tooshie; tush

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("rear" is a kind of...):

body part (any part of an organism such as an organ or extremity)

Holonyms ("rear" is a part of...):

body; torso; trunk (the body excluding the head and neck and limbs)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The back of a military formation or procession

Example:

infantrymen were in the rear

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("rear" is a kind of...):

formation (an arrangement of people or things acting as a unit)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Antonym:

head (the front of a military formation or procession)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The part of something that is furthest from the normal viewer

Example:

it was hidden in the rear of the store

Synonyms:

back; rear

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("rear" is a kind of...):

place; position (the particular portion of space occupied by something)

Derivation:

rear (located in or toward the back or rear)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The side of an object that is opposite its front

Example:

his room was toward the rear of the hotel

Synonyms:

back end; backside; rear

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("rear" is a kind of...):

face; side (a surface forming part of the outside of an object)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rear"):

nape; nucha; scruff (the back side of the neck)

rearward (direction toward the rear)

Antonym:

front (the side that is forward or prominent)

Derivation:

rear (located in or toward the back or rear)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Located in or toward the back or rear

Example:

on the rearward side

Synonyms:

rear; rearward

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

back (related to or located at the back)

Derivation:

rear (the side that goes last or is not normally seen)

rear (the part of something that is furthest from the normal viewer)

rear (the side of an object that is opposite its front)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Construct, build, or erect

Example:

Raise a barn

Synonyms:

erect; put up; raise; rear; set up

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "rear" is one way to...):

build; construct; make (make by combining materials and parts)

Domain category:

building; construction (the act of constructing something)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Stand up on the hind legs, of quadrupeds

Example:

The horse reared in terror

Synonyms:

rear; rise up

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "rear" is one way to...):

straighten (get up from a sitting or slouching position)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rear"):

rear back (rear backwards on its hind legs)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to rise up

Synonyms:

erect; rear

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "rear" is one way to...):

bring up; elevate; get up; lift; raise (raise from a lower to a higher position)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rear"):

pitch; set up (erect and fasten)

cock up; prick; prick up (raise)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Look after a child until it is an adult

Example:

bring up children

Synonyms:

bring up; nurture; parent; raise; rear

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Cause:

grow up (become an adult)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rear"):

fledge (feed, care for, and rear young birds for flight)

cradle (bring up from infancy)

foster (bring up under fosterage; of children)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

rearing (helping someone grow up to be an accepted member of the community)

rearing (the properties acquired as a consequence of the way you were treated as a child)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Rise up

Example:

The building rose before them

Synonyms:

lift; rear; rise

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "rear" is one way to...):

appear; look; seem (give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rear"):

hulk; loom; predominate; tower (appear very large or occupy a commanding position)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

Look to the front, and you'll find no difference; look to the rear, and there it is still.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Around one-third of all food grown and reared for humans is lost during production and transport, or wasted in households and during industrial food processing, they said.

(Model shows pathway to feeding the world, SciDev.Net)

Wolf Larsen stooped, coolly, to the Cockney, and pressed with thumb and finger at the rear of the jaws and below the ears.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The bear advanced clumsily a couple of steps, reared up, and gave vent to a tentative growl.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Mr Shepherd answered for his being of a gentleman's family, and mentioned a place; and Anne, after the little pause which followed, added—He is a rear admiral of the white.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

If you have not, you are not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a considerable part in the history of the country.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was not one family among their acquaintance who had reared and supported a boy accidentally found at their door—not one young man whose origin was unknown.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The researchers gave the mice an antibiotic cocktail designed to wipe out a broad spectrum of bacteria in the gut and by rearing them in a germ-free environment.

(In uveitis, bacteria in gut may instruct immune cells to attack the eye, NIH)

His charitable kindness had been rearing a prime comfort for himself.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

He led the way to a small chamber in the rear of the Throne Room, and they all followed him.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)