rates
(British, New Zealand, Australian, Hong Kong) Taxes, usually on property, levied by local government.
Seen in the wild
Australia news live: Bullock says ‘we are poorer and there is no way out of it’ after Reserve Bank hikes rates | Australia news https://www.newsbeep.com/nz/412474/ Bullock says Australians are ‘poorer’ after RBA rat…
European Penny Stocks To Watch In May 2026 https://www.europesays.com/europe/31596/ As the European market navigates through a landscape marked by stable central bank rates and geopolitical tensions, investors…
Stavros Mouslopoulos: Which Coherence Decoheres? Basis-Dependent Decoherence Rates in Symmetry-Broken Collective Spin Systems https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.00952 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.00952 https://arxiv.org/html/26…
Parking rates in Rīga could increase in the future / Article https://www.europesays.com/dk/74940/ The Rīga City Council is preparing significant changes to parking regulations, including an increase in fees for long…
According to Pew Research (2023), 80-90% of (US) parents had passed on their political and religious views to their children. Considering this, how do you feel about the fact that birth rates are significantly higher…
Definitions
(British, New Zealand, Australian, Hong Kong) Taxes, usually on property, levied by local government.
Nonetheless, it did not stop the Fed from cutting rates last Thursday.
“Australia news live: Bullock says ‘we are poorer and there is no way out of it’ after Reserve Bank hikes rates | Australia news https://www.newsbeep.com/nz/412474/ Bullock says Australians are ‘poorer’ after RBA rate hike Speaking about the impact of the Middle East conflict,…”
— Bluesky· May 2026“European Penny Stocks To Watch In May 2026 https://www.europesays.com/europe/31596/ As the European market navigates through a landscape marked by stable central bank rates and geopolitical tensions, investors…”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Stavros Mouslopoulos: Which Coherence Decoheres? Basis-Dependent Decoherence Rates in Symmetry-Broken Collective Spin Systems https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.00952 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.00952 https://arxiv.org/html/2605.00952”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Parking rates in Rīga could increase in the future / Article https://www.europesays.com/dk/74940/ The Rīga City Council is preparing significant changes to parking regulations, including an increase in fees for long-term…”
— Bluesky· May 2026“According to Pew Research (2023), 80-90% of (US) parents had passed on their political and religious views to their children. Considering this, how do you feel about the fact that birth rates are significantly higher amongst conservatives than liberals?”
— r/AskReddit· May 2026
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Show 1 more dictionary-style sense (imported)
Taxes, usually on property, levied by local government.
Rates means: Taxes, usually on property, levied by local government.. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than risky behaviour. If your teen uses it, context will usually make the intent clear. A short, curious question about where they heard it is usually all that is needed to know whether to follow up.
rates means: Taxes, usually on property, levied by local government.. Register: neutral, standard English. A common learner mistake is using the word in a register it does not fit, or assuming a single global meaning; native speakers immediately notice when slang appears in formal contexts, so always check the surrounding register before producing it yourself. A formal-English equivalent (a synonym or descriptive phrase) is usually safer in writing. When in doubt, paraphrase rather than reuse the slang form.
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Semantically related
- rateable value63%
(British) An official estimate of the value of a property, used as a basis for local taxation.
- roof tax63%
(UK) A tax based on house prices, proposed as an alternative to the poll tax in the 1990s.
- dumb tax63%
(chiefly, British, slang, humorous) The national lottery.
- council tax61%
(UK) The taxation paid to a county council towards the costs of local government; some of this money is directed to the parish council or community council by a precept, depending on the locale.