rash

¹ American  

[rash] / ræʃ /

adjective

rasher, rashest

1. 

   acting or tending to act too hastily or without due consideration.

   Synonyms:

   foolhardy, indiscreet, precipitate, incautious, venturous, reckless, impetuous, hasty

   Antonyms:

   cautious

2. characterized by or showing too great haste or lack of consideration.

   rash promises.

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rash ² American  

[rash] / ræʃ /

noun

• rashes
  plural

1. an eruption or efflorescence on the skin.

2. a multitude of instances of something occurring more or less during the same period of time.

   a rash of robberies last month.

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rash ¹ British  

/ ræʃ /

adjective

1. acting without due consideration or thought; impetuous

2. characterized by or resulting from excessive haste or impetuosity

   a rash word

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rash ² British  

/ ræʃ /

noun

1. pathol any skin eruption

2. a series of unpleasant and unexpected occurrences

   a rash of forest fires

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Usage

What does rash mean? Rash describes acting too quickly and without proper planning, as in James was rash when he decided to quit his job after just one hard day. Rash also describes a great haste or a lack of consideration, such as Sahad avoided making rash decisions by doing a lot of research first. A rash is a skin condition, such as bumps or a red area, like you might get if you touch poison ivy. A rash is also several instances of something that occur at the same or nearly the same time, such as a rash of snowstorms over a week or a rash of electronic sales during the winter holidays. Example: He always jumps head first into rash decisions, but sometimes it works out.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• rashness
  noun
• rashlike
  adjective
• rashly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• rashes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of rash¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; cognate with Dutch, German rasch “quick, brisk,” Old Norse rǫskr “brave”

Origin of rash²

1700–10; < French rache (obsolete), Old French rasche skin eruption, derivative of raschier to scratch, ultimately < Latin rādere to scratch

Explanation

A rash is something that spreads like wild fire — red itchy skin or a series of unfortunate events. It can also describe an impulsive, wild decision. As an adjective, rash has meant "quick, vigorous" since the 1300s by way of Scotland. The meaning shifted to "reckless" a few hundred years later, and can still be used that way — a "rash decision" is a sudden, not well thought out one. Rash, the noun that no one wants on their skin, came a few hundred years after that, but from the French word rache which at some point meant "ringworm." Ringworm still gives us a red, itchy rash. Fun! Rash can also mean a lot of unpleasant things happening in a short amount of time, like robberies or earthquakes.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rash rashes rasher rashest

But it has also sparked a rash of legal complaints, including from two women whose families say they were seriously injured in July on the ride in Valencia, just north of Los Angeles.

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

Health board chief executive Phil Kloer replied saying they had not identified any evidence that concerns regarding the rash were ignored or "that there was a failure to seek appropriate medical review".

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

It should work on autopilot, avoiding rash decisions that can be influenced by scary or exciting headlines.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

People infected with typhus typically develop symptoms within one to two weeks, which may include a fever, headache, rash and body aches.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

I'm not the type to be rash, like Noodle, or to do it out of pride or some sense of street justice, like Brick.

From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon

The symptoms were frighteningly similar and frustratingly non-specific: fever, rashes, weakness, dehydration and, in some cases, seizures.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

Dixon said she and others who worked in the town’s contaminated creeks developed symptoms like dizziness and rashes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

While rarely fatal, Lyme disease can cause rashes and flu-like symptoms among people who are bitten by an infected tick, and in some cases neurological problems.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

People showed strange boils and rashes that volunteers photographed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026

But as the years passed, his walks became longer and longer as the factories and roads sprawled out of town like one of the rashes he was so effective in treating.

From "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness

As written, the recipe needs nothing more than a generous swipe of cultured butter and a plate of soft scrambled eggs, maybe a rasher of bacon if you’re feeling traditional.

From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2025

Braised wagyu beef cheek was less tender than it should have been, but butter and dark chocolate enriched the sauce, cambozola sharpened the accompanying gratin, and a crisp rasher of speck capped the dish.

From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2018

Matt made a sandwich with two angus patties with red onion, cheddar, caramelized onions, rasher bacon, grilled pineapple, a fried egg, tomato chili jam and aioli wrapped in lettuce.

From Time ● Aug. 4, 2015

David Lean's grimly black-and-white Oliver Twist, released in 1948, muffles the book's raw, coarse alternation of murder and mockery, which Dickens likened to the layers of meat and fat in a rasher of streaky bacon.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 20, 2011

There was much more than she'd asked for: hot bread, butter and honey and blackberry preserves, a rasher of bacon and a soft- boiled egg, a wedge of cheese, a pot of mint tea.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin

Show business is fear-driven, and that fuels Deborah and Ava’s rashest decisions more than anything else.

From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2025

But there were officials in place who could temper his rashest impulses.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 22, 2019

It wasn’t remotely the same, of course, and the overstatement rebounded against Strauss, who had never said anything of the kind but was soon being held accountable for the rashest words of his admirers.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 17, 2016

He was the prettiest, the brashest, the baddest, the fastest, the loudest, the rashest.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2016

Goldbury explains just what this means, and how one can start the biggest and rashest venture on a capital, say, of eighteen-pence, and yet be safe from liability.

From The Secrets of a Savoyard by Henry A. Lytton

Related Words

• audacious
• bold
• daring
• foolhardy
• hasty
• ill-advised
• ill-considered
• immature
• impetuous
• imprudent
• indiscreet
• irrational
• reckless
• thoughtless