rash
1 Americanadjective
-
acting or tending to act too hastily or without due consideration.
- Synonyms:
- foolhardy, indiscreet, precipitate, incautious, venturous, reckless, impetuous, hasty
- Antonyms:
- cautious
-
characterized by or showing too great haste or lack of consideration.
rash promises.
noun
-
rashes
plural
-
an eruption or efflorescence on the skin.
-
a multitude of instances of something occurring more or less during the same period of time.
a rash of robberies last month.
adjective
-
acting without due consideration or thought; impetuous
-
characterized by or resulting from excessive haste or impetuosity
a rash word
noun
-
pathol any skin eruption
-
a series of unpleasant and unexpected occurrences
a rash of forest fires
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing rash
The Balcony Scene from "Romeo and Juliet"
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"Marriage is a Private Affair" by Chinua Achebe
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Walk Two Moons
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Symptoms include a high fever, tiny white spots in the mouth and a rash.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
An infected person can spread the disease up to four days before a measles rash appears and up to four days after the rash appears, according to the county department.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
His healthcare providers were stumped by his symptoms: a fever, rash, and intense headaches.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
Nothing rash, and nobody here is your financial adviser.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
When she looked at her arms, she saw they were already covered with an angry rash.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Less than two years in, she started having daily asthma attacks, as well as headaches, dizziness, and rashes while her walls were sweating and windows were fogging up because of the humidity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 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
Symptoms of the allergy can range from mild to severe including skin rashes, swelling, stomach cramps, vomiting and anaphylaxis, which can be life-threatening.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
A third has developed skin rashes, she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 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
It didn’t have the toothsome texture or smoky depth of a rasher of butcher’s dry-cured bacon, but I’d happily buy it again as an alternative to “nitro-meat”.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 1, 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
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
Hence sombre shades phantastick born and bred Of trifles promising rashest Esperance; While boons of happy chance Were likewise feignèd and enfigurèd.
From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. VIII by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
