Race vs. Caste

A contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective. Example: Several horses run in a horse race, and the first one to reach the finishing post wins

Example: ‘The race around the park was won by Johnny, who ran faster than the others.’; ‘We had a race to see who could finish the book the quickest.’;

Swift progress; rapid motion; an instance of moving or driving at high speed.

(computing) A race condition.

A progressive movement toward a goal.

Example: ‘the race to cure cancer’;

A fast-moving current of water, such as that which powers a mill wheel.

A water channel, esp. one built to lead water to or from a point where it is utilised.

Competitive action of any kind, especially when prolonged; hence, career; course of life.

The bushings of a rolling element bearing which contacts the rolling elements.

A group of sentient beings, particularly people, distinguished by common ancestry, heritage or characteristics:

A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage compare ethnic group. See Wikipedia's article on historical definitions of race.

A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of common physical characteristics, such as skin color or hair type.

Example: ‘Race was a significant issue during apartheid in South Africa.’; ‘The Native Americans colonized the New World in several waves from Asia, and thus they are considered part of the same Mongoloid race.’;

A large group of sentient beings distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage compare species, subspecies.

Example: ‘A treaty was concluded between the race of elves and the race of men.’;

A group of people distinguished from others on the basis of shared social characteristics.

(taxonomy) A population geographically separated from others of its species that develops significantly different characteristics; an informal term for a subspecies.

A breed or strain of domesticated animal.

(figuratively) A category or species of something that has emerged or evolved from an older one (with an implied parallel to animal breeding or evolutionary science).

Example: ‘The advent of the Internet has brought about a new race of entrepreneur.’; ‘Recent developments in artificial intelligence has brought about a new race of robots that can perform household chores without supervision.’;

(obsolete) Peculiar flavour, taste, or strength, as of wine; that quality, or assemblage of qualities, which indicates origin or kind, as in wine; hence, characteristic flavour.

(obsolete) Characteristic quality or disposition.

A rhizome or root, especially of ginger.

(intransitive) To take part in a race (in the sense of a contest).

Example: ‘The drivers were racing around the track.’;

(transitive) To compete against in such a race.

Example: ‘I raced him to the car, but he was there first, so he got to ride shotgun.’;

(intransitive) To move or drive at high speed.

Example: ‘As soon as it was time to go home, he raced for the door.’; ‘Her heart was racing as she peered into the dimly lit room.’;

(intransitive) Of a motor, to run rapidly when not engaged to a transmission.

To raze.

To run swiftly; to contend in a race; as, the animals raced over the ground; the ships raced from port to port.

To run too fast at times, as a marine engine or screw, when the screw is lifted out of water by the action of a heavy sea.

To cause to contend in a race; to drive at high speed; as, to race horses.

To run a race with.

A root.

The descendants of a common ancestor; a family, tribe, people, or nation, believed or presumed to belong to the same stock; a lineage; a breed.

Example: ‘The whole race of mankind.’; ‘Whence the long race of Alban fathers come.’;

Company; herd; breed.

Example: ‘For do but note a wild and wanton herd,Or race of youthful and unhandled colts,Fetching mad bounds.’;

A variety of such fixed character that it may be propagated by seed.

Peculiar flavor, taste, or strength, as of wine; that quality, or assemblage of qualities, which indicates origin or kind, as in wine; hence, characteristic flavor; smack.

Example: ‘Is it [the wine] of the right race ?’;

Hence, characteristic quality or disposition.

Example: ‘And now I give my sensual race the rein.’; ‘Some . . . great race of fancy or judgment.’;

A progress; a course; a movement or progression.

Esp., swift progress; rapid course; a running.

Example: ‘The flight of many birds is swifter than the race of any beasts.’;

Hence: The act or process of running in competition; a contest of speed in any way, as in running, riding, driving, skating, rowing, sailing; in the plural, usually, a meeting for contests in the running of horses; as, he attended the races.

Example: ‘The race is not to the swift.’; ‘I wield the gauntlet, and I run the race.’;

Competitive action of any kind, especially when prolonged; hence, career; course of life.

Example: ‘My race of glory run, and race of shame.’;

A strong or rapid current of water, or the channel or passage for such a current; a powerful current or heavy sea, sometimes produced by the meeting of two tides; as, the Portland Race; the Race of Alderney.

The current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel in which it flows; a mill race.

A channel or guide along which a shuttle is driven back and forth, as in a loom, sewing machine, etc.

any competition;

Example: ‘the race for the presidency’;

people who are believed to belong to the same genetic stock;

Example: ‘some biologists doubt that there are important genetic differences between races of human beings’;

a contest of speed;

Example: ‘the race is to the swift’;

the flow of air that is driven backwards by an aircraft propeller

(biology) a taxonomic group that is a division of a species; usually arises as a consequence of geographical isolation within a species

a canal for a current of water

step on it;

Example: ‘He rushed down the hall to receive his guests’; ‘The cars raced down the street’;

compete in a race;

Example: ‘he is running the Marathon this year’; ‘let's race and see who gets there first’;

to work as fast as possible towards a goal, sometimes in competition with others;

Example: ‘We are racing to find a cure for AIDS’;

cause to move fast or to rush or race;

Example: ‘The psychologist raced the rats through a long maze’;

a competition between runners, horses, vehicles, etc. to see which is the fastest in covering a set course

Example: ‘Hill started from pole position and won the race’;

a series of races for horses or dogs, held at a fixed time on a set course.

a situation in which individuals or groups compete to be first to achieve a particular objective

Example: ‘the race for nuclear power’;

the course of the sun or moon through the heavens

Example: ‘the industrious sun already half his race hath run’;

a strong or rapid current flowing through a narrow channel in the sea or a river

Example: ‘angling for tuna in turbulent tidal races’;

a water channel, especially one built to lead water to or from a point where its energy is utilized, as in a mill or mine.

a smooth ring-shaped groove or guide in which a ball bearing or roller bearing runs.

a fenced passageway in a stockyard through which animals pass singly for branding, loading, washing, etc.

(in weaving) the channel along which the shuttle moves.

each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics

Example: ‘people of all races, colours, and creeds’;

the fact or condition of belonging to a racial division or group; the qualities or characteristics associated with this.

a group of people sharing the same culture, history, language, etc.; an ethnic group

Example: ‘we Scots were a bloodthirsty race then’;

a group or set of people or things with a common feature or features

Example: ‘the upper classes thought of themselves as a race apart’;

a population within a species that is distinct in some way, especially a subspecies

Example: ‘people have killed so many tigers that two races are probably extinct’;

(in non-technical use) each of the major divisions of living creatures

Example: ‘a member of the human race’; ‘the race of birds’;

a group of people descended from a common ancestor

Example: ‘a prince of the race of Solomon’;

ancestry

Example: ‘two coursers of ethereal race’;

a ginger root.

compete with another or others to see who is fastest at covering a set course or achieving an objective

Example: ‘the vet took blood samples from the horses before they raced’; ‘two drivers raced each other through a housing estate’;

compete regularly in races as a sport or leisure activity

Example: ‘next year, he raced again for the team’;

prepare and enter (an animal or vehicle) for races

Example: ‘he raced his three horses simply for the fun of it’;

move or progress swiftly or at full speed

Example: ‘I raced into the house’; ‘she spoke automatically, while her mind raced ahead’;

operate or cause to operate at excessive speed

Example: ‘the truck came to rest against a tree with its engine racing’;

(of a person's heart or pulse) beat faster than usual because of fear or excitement.

Any of the hereditary social classes and subclasses of South Asian societies.

A separate and fixed order or class of persons in society who chiefly associate with each other.

(zoology) A class of polymorphous eusocial insects of a particular size and function within a colony.

One of the hereditary classes into which the Hindu are divided according to the laws of Brahmanism.

A separate and fixed order or class of persons in society who chiefly hold intercourse among themselves.

Example: ‘The tinkers then formed an hereditary caste.’;

social status or position conferred by a system based on class;

Example: ‘lose caste by doing work beneath one's station’;

(Hinduism) a hereditary social class among Hindus; stratified according to ritual purity

a social class separated from others by distinctions of hereditary rank or profession or wealth

Caste is a form of social stratification characterized by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural notions of purity and pollution. Its paradigmatic ethnographic example is the division of India's Hindu society into rigid social groups, with roots in India's ancient history and persisting to the present time.