Adjacent Words

Rote definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ROTE, n. A kind of violin or harp. Obs.
ROTE, n. [L. rota, a wheel.]
Properly, a round of words; frequent repetition of words or sounds, without attending to the signification, or to principles and rules; a practice that impresses words in the memory without an effort of the understanding, and without the aid of rules. Thus children learn to speak by rote; they often repeat what they hear, till it becomes familiar to them. So we learn to sing by rote, as we hear notes repeated, and soon learn to repeat them ourselves.
ROTE, v.t. To fix in the memory by means of frequent repetition ourselves, or by hearing the repetition of others, without an effort of the understanding to comprehend what is repeated, and without the aid of rules or principles. [Little used.]
ROTE, v.i. To go out by rotation or succession. [Little used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: memorization by repetition [syn: rote, rote learning]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German hruozza crowd Date: 14th century crowd III,1 II. noun Etymology: Middle English Date: 14th century 1. the use of memory usually with little intelligence <learn by rote> 2. mechanical or unthinking routine or repetition <a joyless sense of order, rote, and commercial hustle — L. L. King> III. adjective Date: 1641 1. learned or memorized by rote 2. mechanical 3a IV. noun Etymology: perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse rauta to roar — more at rout Date: 1610 the noise of surf on the shore

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (usu. prec. by by) mechanical or habitual repetition (with ref. to acquiring knowledge). Etymology: ME: orig. unkn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rote Rote, n. [Cf. Rut roaring.] The noise produced by the surf of the sea dashing upon the shore. See Rut.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rote Rote, n. [OF. rote, F. route, road, path. See Route, and cf. Rut a furrow, Routine.] A frequent repetition of forms of speech without attention to the meaning; mere repetition; as, to learn rules by rote. --Swift. till he the first verse could [i. e., knew] all by rote. --Chaucer. Thy love did read by rote, and could not spell. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rote Rote, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Roted; p. pr. & vb. n. Roting.] To learn or repeat by rote. [Obs.] --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rote Rote, n. A root. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rote Rote, n. [OE. rote, probably of German origin; cf. MHG. rotte, OHG. rota, hrota, LL. chrotta. Cf. Crowd a kind of violin.] (Mus.) A kind of guitar, the notes of which were produced by a small wheel or wheel-like arrangement; an instrument similar to the hurdy-gurdy. Well could he sing and play on a rote. --Chaucer. extracting mistuned dirges from their harps, crowds, and rotes. --Sir W. Scott.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rote Rote, v. i. To go out by rotation or succession; to rotate. [Obs.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Rote learning or learning by rote is learning things by repeating them without thinking about them or trying to understand them. He is very sceptical about the value of rote learning... N-UNCOUNT: N n, by N

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

rot: the Revised Version margin gives "learned by rote" in Isa 29:13 for the King James Version "taught," which indicates that the service of Yahweh was merely formal.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Repetition. 2. Rut (of the sea).

Moby Thesaurus

automatically, commitment to memory, exercise of memory, flashback, grind, groove, hindsight, learning by heart, looking back, mechanically, memoir, memorization, memorizing, pace, recall, recalling, recollecting, recollection, reconsideration, reflection, remembering, remembrance, reminiscence, retrospect, retrospection, review, ritual, rote memory, routine, rut, study, treadmill, unthinkingly