a person or thing with a designated or specific rating
The others were second raters and he only just beat them.
-rater in American English
(ˈreɪtər)
one of a (specified) rate, or class
used in hyphenated compounds
second-rater
rater in American English
(ˈreitər)
noun
1.
a person who makes rates or ratings
2. (usually used in combination)
a person or thing that is of a specific rating
The show's star is a first-rater
3. slang
any of various small, popular yachts belonging to standard classes
Word origin
[1605–15; rate1 + -er1]This word is first recorded in the period 1605–15. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: crater, inverse, package, pivot, series-er is a suffix used in forming nouns designating persons from the object of their occupationor labor (hatter; tiler; tinner; moonshiner), or from their place of origin or abode (Icelander; southerner; villager), or designating either persons or things from some special characteristic or circumstance(six-footer; three-master; teetotaler; fiver; tenner)
Examples of 'rater' in a sentence
rater
I didn't want to be a second-rater.
The Sun (2015)
You may be a second-rater, yet you write the first draft of history.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
We know that if the local party chooses a second-rater, he or she will still be elected.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
She died in 1998, a classic example of artist as narcissist, which naturally makes her a second-rater.