rear

1. 1.

   stand up on the hind legs, of quadrupeds

   “The horse reared in terror”

   Synonymsrise up

   Broaderstraighten

   Narrowerrear back
2. 2.

   look after a child until it is an adult

   “raise a family”

   “bring up children”

   Synonymsraisebring upnurtureparent

   Narrowerfledgecradlefoster
3. 3.

   rise up

   “The building rose before them”

   Synonymsriselift

   Broaderlook

   Narrowerloom
4. 4.

   cause to rise up

   Synonymserect

   Broaderraise

   Narrowerpitchprick up
5. 5.

   construct, build, or erect

   “Raise a barn”

   Synonymsraiseerectset upput up

   Broaderconstruct

   construction

1. 1.

   located in or toward the back or rear

   “the chair's rear legs”

   “the rear door of the plane”

   “on the rearward side”

   Synonymsrearward

   Similarback

Other forms of rear

plural

rears·

past tense

reared·

present participle

rearing·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about rear

What does rear mean?

rear means "the back of a military formation or procession". That is the primary sense; the word has 11 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in rear?

rear has 1 syllable: rear. In IPA it is /ˈɹɪɹ/.

What is another word for rear?

Close synonyms include backside, back end, back, buttocks, nates. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of rear?

The recorded antonyms are head, front, front.

Is rear a common word?

rear is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.