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• rota
  rota

  noun
• Rota
  Rota

  noun

  Nino 1911–1979, Italian composer.

rota

¹ American  

[roh-tuh] / ˈroʊ tə /

noun

1. Chiefly British.

   1. a round or rotation of duties; a period of work or duty taken in rotation with others.

   2. an agenda or circuit of sporting events, as a round of golf tournaments, played in different localities throughout the year.

2. a roster.

3. Official Name Sacra Romana Rota or Sacred Roman Rota.  (initial capital letter) the ecclesiastical tribunal in Rome, constituting the court of final appeal.

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rota ² American  

[roh-tuh] / ˈroʊ tə /

noun

1. rote.

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Rota ³ American  

[raw-tah] / ˈrɔ tɑ /

noun

1. Nino 1911–1979, Italian composer.

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Rota ¹ British  

/ ˈrəʊtə /

noun

1. RC Church the supreme ecclesiastical tribunal for judging cases brought before the Holy See

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rota ² British  

/ ˈrəʊtə /

noun

1. a register of names showing the order in which people take their turn to perform certain duties

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Etymology

Origin of rota

First recorded in 1650–60; from Latin: “wheel”

Explanation

A rota is a schedule that lists who will do a particular job and when they will do it. If you can't remember what day you're supposed to volunteer at the library, you should check the rota. You can also call a rota a roster. Win a spot on the soccer team or chess club, and you'll find your name on a rota: these are lists of team members, or schedules of upcoming competitions. At work, a rota tells you what shifts you'll be responsible for working next week. And at home, your parents' cleaning rota may assign tasks to each member of the family — just be glad it's not your turn to scour the bathroom.

Example Sentences

Among the duties mentioned was a rota for cooking and cleaning and walking his dog, Badger, along with the instruction that members of the team should do "anything" Brain asked for.

From BBC • Aug. 21, 2025

Should carrots be dangled in front of the French clubs to see if they want to join the rota, maybe as a replacement for Australia or even in addition to Australia?

From BBC • Jul. 26, 2025

The nurse and the consultant, who had previously cared for Alice, had both moved on and there was a high level of temporary agency staff filling long-standing gaps in the rota.

From BBC • Jun. 9, 2025

Why not look at this sun-splashed sanctuary the way the British Open has St. Andrews in the rotation — or rota — of courses?

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 1, 2025

He’d shown us a list of chores when we’d first arrived, and the students who were already there—“the veterans,” as Hannah called them—had long since worked out a rota which we kept to conscientiously.

From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Related Words

• agenda
• inventory
• record
• schedule
• table