What does rated mean?
Rated is both the past tense and past participle of the verb rate and an adjective formed from it. As a verb, rated describes the act of assessing someone or something, assigning it a grade, category, or numerical value: a critic rated the performance excellent, while engineers rated a transformer for a particular voltage. As an adjective, rated often indicates that a rating has already been assigned, as in “rated PG,” “rated highly,” or “rated for indoor use.” It can also mean regarded in a particular way: a novel may be rated as controversial or innovative. The word is common in both formal and informal English across Britain and the United States. In technical contexts, rated specifies a permitted or nominal level of power, capacity, or performance. Rated is therefore useful wherever a judgement, classification, or measured operating limit is being communicated.
Having been assigned a rating, judged in a particular way, or designated for a stated level of power, voltage, or performance.
"The product is rated for use in temperatures below 30 degrees."
Common in phrases such as “rated highly,” “rated as,” and “rated for.”
The past tense and past participle of rate: to assess, judge, classify, or assign a rating to.
"Reviewers rated the restaurant among the best in the city."
Often transitive, although it can also be used intransitively with an adjective: “rated excellent.”
From an early sense meaning “reckoned,” rate developed into modern systems for ranking quality and measuring power.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does rated come from?
The word rate entered Middle English through Old French, ultimately deriving from Latin rata, an ablative form of ratio meaning “reason” or “proportion.” The modern sense of assigning a value or classification developed from earlier meanings involving reckoning, assessment, and price. The past form and participial adjective rated were formed by adding the regular -ed ending. Related words include ratio, rational, ration, and ratify, all associated with the Latin root ratio.
Related word forms
How rated is actually used
As an adjective, rated commonly follows a rating or standard: “rated PG,” “rated for 240 volts,” or “rated highly.” As a verb, it is the regular past tense and past participle of rate; “she rated the restaurant excellent” means she judged or assigned a rating to it.