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rat

  • noun
  • răt

Any of the numerous members of several rodent families that usually have short limbs, a pointy snout, a long, hairless tail, and a body length greater than about 12 cm, or 5 inches.

Other meanings

  1. A medium-sized rodent belonging to the genus Rattus.

  2. A person who is known for betrayal.

A kind of

  • rodent

Kinds of rat

  • pocket rat
  • brown rat
  • black rat
  • mole rat
  • jerboa rat
  • rice rat

Example sentences

  • “I'm not a lab rat.”

    Tatoeba · ddnktr · CC0

  • “The machine gives a food reward when your rat presses a lever.”

    Tatoeba · Cangarejo · CC0

Word history

From Old English "ræt".

Where this comes from

This definition is adapted from “rat” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.