REAR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does rear mean? 

• REAR (noun)
  The noun REAR has 5 senses:

1. the back of a military formation or procession

2. the side of an object that is opposite its front

3. the part of something that is furthest from the normal viewer

4. the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on

5. the side that goes last or is not normally seen

  Familiarity information: REAR used as a noun is common.

• REAR (adjective)
  The adjective REAR has 1 sense:

1. located in or toward the back or rear

  Familiarity information: REAR used as an adjective is very rare.

• REAR (verb)
  The verb REAR has 5 senses:

1. stand up on the hind legs, of quadrupeds

2. look after a child until it is an adult

3. rise up

4. cause to rise up

5. construct, build, or erect

  Familiarity information: REAR used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REAR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The back of a military formation or procession

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

infantrymen were in the rear

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 2

Meaning:

The side of an object that is opposite its front

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

back end; backside; rear

Context example:

his room was toward the rear of the hotel

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)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The part of something that is furthest from the normal viewer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

back; rear

Context example:

it was hidden in the rear of the store

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 4

Meaning:

The fleshy part of the human body that you sit on

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

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

Context example:

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

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 5

Meaning:

The side that goes last or is not normally seen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

back; rear

Context example:

he wrote the date on the back of the photograph

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)

• REAR (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Located in or toward the back or rear

Synonyms:

rear; rearward

Context example:

on the rearward side

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)

• REAR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they rear    ... he / she / it rears   
Past simple: reared   
Past participle: reared   
-ing form: rearing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Stand up on the hind legs, of quadrupeds

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

rear; rise up

Context example:

The horse reared in terror

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 2

Meaning:

Look after a child until it is an adult

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

bring up; nurture; parent; raise; rear

Context example:

bring up children

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 3

Meaning:

Rise up

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

lift; rear; rise

Context example:

The building rose before them

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cause to rise up

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

erect; rear

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 5

Meaning:

Construct, build, or erect

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

erect; put up; raise; rear; set up

Context example:

Raise a barn

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

 Context examples 

At the rear of the sled toiled a second man.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

We four white men walked in the rear with rifles loaded and ready.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Small harm then, but that my horse Troubadour trod with a tender foot upon a sharp stick, rearing and throwing me to the ground.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

From the wild stringy root of human uprightness, she has reared a due sense of the Divine justice.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A few moor farmers have small holdings, where they rear sheep and cattle.

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

The bed, against the rear wall, occupied two-thirds of the total space of the room.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The castle stood as before, reared high above a waste of desolation.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Then I skirted among the woods until I had regained the rear, or shoreward side, of the stockade, and was soon warmly welcomed by the faithful party.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Or, as chance might have it, he would lie farther away, to the side or rear, watching the outlines of the man and the occasional movements of his body.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The researchers found that levels of 103 miRNAs were different in the amygdala and 31 in the prefrontal cortex of mice reared without gut bacteria (GF mice) compared to conventional mice.

(New Light on Link between Gut Bacteria, Anxiety, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)