Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

fourth-rate

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.66 in modern English

Syllables
fourth-rate
IPA
16
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Of a Royal Navy ship of the line in the Napoleonic Era: having 50–60 guns across two gun decks, a complement of 320–420, and weighing approximately 1,000 tons burthen.

British usage

adj

Terrible, awful; less than third-rate.

noun

A fourth-rate ship of the line.

British usage

Usage

Inflected Forms

fourth rate (alternative) fourth-rates (plural)

Phrases

fifth-rate first-rate second-rate sixth-rate third-rate two-decker

Frequently Paired Words

fifth-rate first-rate second-rate sixth-rate third-rate two-decker

Synonyms

dismal horrible rubbish abysmal atrocious awful bad chronic coarse corny crap crapalicious

Questions

What does fourth-rate mean?
Of a Royal Navy ship of the line in the Napoleonic Era: having 50–60 guns across two gun decks, a complement of 320–420, and weighing approximately 1,000 tons burthen.

How to pronounce fourth-rate

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “fourth-rate”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “fourth-rate”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “fourth-rate” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.