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From Middle English pase, from Anglo-Norman pas, Old French pas, and their source, Latin passus. Doublet of pas and fathom; compare also pass. Cognate with pass, Spanish pasear, paso.

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /peɪs/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (Australia):

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• Rhymes: -eɪs

pace (plural paces)

1. A step.
   1. A step taken with the foot. [from 14th c.]
   2. The distance covered in a step (or sometimes two), either vaguely or according to various specific set measurements.^[1] [from 14th c.]

      Even at the duel, standing 10 paces apart, he could have satisfied Aaron’s honor.

      I have perambulated your field, and estimate its perimeter to be 219 paces.

2. A way of stepping.
   1. A manner of walking, running or dancing; the rate or style of how someone moves with their feet. [from 14th c.]

      We set off at a round pace.

      • 2012 June 9, Owen Phillips, “Euro 2012: Netherlands 0-1 Denmark”, in BBC Sport‎^[1], archived from the original on 17 January 2016:

        Netherlands, one of the pre-tournament favourites, combined their undoubted guile, creativity, pace and attacking quality with midfield grit and organisation.

   2. Any of various gaits of a horse, specifically a 2-beat, lateral gait. [from 15th c.]
3. Speed or velocity in general. [from 15th c.]

   Synonyms: tempo, rhythm

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 311:

     For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.

   • 1983, Kathryn Lance, Running for Health, Bantam, →ISBN:

     The fastest women runners can run a mile in well under five minutes, but in order to reach that goal they've had to train at a much slower pace over thousands of miles.

4. (cricket) A measure of the hardness of a pitch and of the tendency of a cricket ball to maintain its speed after bouncing. [from 19th c.]

   He didn't bowl a lot of pace in the first T20I.

5. (collective) A group of donkeys (asses).
   • 1952, G. B. Stern, The Donkey Shoe, The Macmillan Company, published 1952, page 29:

     […] but at Broadstairs and other places along the coast, a pace of donkeys stood on the sea-shore expectant (at least, their owners were expectant) of children clamouring to ride.

   • 2006 November 9, “Drop the dead donkeys”, in The Economist‎^[2], archived from the original on 27 February 2018:

     A pace of donkeys fans out in different directions.

   • 2007, Elinor De Wire, The Lightkeepers' Menagerie: Stories of Animals at Lighthouses, Pineapple Press, published 2007, →ISBN, page 200:

     Like a small farm, the lighthouse compound had its chattering of chicks, pace of donkeys, troop of horses, and fold of sheep.

   • 1974, Al Barkow, Golf's Golden Grind: A History of the PGA Tour‎^[3], Burford Books, page 41:

     we see and then imitate the pros moving about as quickly as a pace of asses pulling cannon through the Pripet Marshes.

6. (obsolete) A passage, a route.
   1. (obsolete) One's journey or route. [14th–18th c.]
   2. (obsolete) A passage through difficult terrain; a mountain pass or route vulnerable to ambush etc. [14th–17th c.]
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

        But when she saw them gone she forward went, / As lay her journey, through that perlous Pace [...].

   3. (obsolete) An aisle in a church. [15th–19th c.]

• → Japanese: ペース (pēsu)

pace (not comparable)

1. (cricket) Describing a bowler who bowls fast balls.

pace (third-person singular simple present paces, present participle pacing, simple past and past participle paced)

1. To walk back and forth in a small distance.
   • 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, Chapter V:

     Groups of men, in all imaginable attitudes, were lying, standing, sitting, or pacing up and down.

   • 1955 January, R. S. McNaught, “From the Severn to the Mersey by Great Western”, in Railway Magazine, page 19:

     As we stood waiting for the departure time with the setting sun twinkling on the great brass dome of our 2-4-0, the sound of church bells was the only one apart from the measured tread of the guard slowly pacing towards his van, and, standing at an open window, I more than once heard the fireman's "Right away!" to his mate in acknowledgement of a desultory wave of the unfurled green flag.

2. To walk along or through sth with regular strides.
3. To set the speed.

   Synonym: set the pace

   I helped her train for the marathon by pacing her on a bike.

   • 1921, W. F. Grew, The Cycle Industry, London, page 70:

     The clubs in London, Manchester, Birmingham, etc., hold various track meetings for races varying from one mile to fifty miles, the longer distances being sometimes paced by tandems.

4. To measure by walking.

From Latin pāce (“in peace”), ablative form of pāx (“peace”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpætʃeɪ/, /ˈpɑːtʃeɪ/, /ˈpeɪsiː/

• Audio (General American):

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pace

1. (formal) With all due respect to.
   • 1998, Harold Bloom, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Riverhead, →ISBN, page 223:

     She is marvelous here, but he (pace many critics) is no bumpkin: “But will my Rosalind do so?”

   • 2026 October 10, Charlotte Edwardes, “‘There is no secret agenda’: Nara Smith on home-making absolutely everything, raising four kids at 25 – and why she’s definitely not a tradwife”, in The Guardian‎^[4], →ISSN:

     Nara Smith is not a tradwife, she wants you to know that. Nor is she an ex-tradwife – pace the New York Times who included her in a feature on how ex-tradwives are as popular a movement now as the tradwives were in the first place.

Used when expressing a contrary opinion, in formal speech or writing.

Alteration of archaic Pasch.

• IPA^(key): /peɪs/

pace (plural paces)

1. Synonym of Easter.

• pace egg

• EPAC, EPCA, Cape, EAPC, PECA, Apec, cape, CAPE, APEC

From Latin pācem (“peace”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpatʃe/, /ˈpadʒe/

pace f

1. peace

From paco + -e.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpat͡se/

• Audio 1:

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• Rhymes: -at͡se
• Syllabification: pa‧ce

pace

1. peacefully

• “pace”, in Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto [Complete Illustrated Dictionary of Esperanto], 2020, →ISBN

pace

1. inflection of pacer:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• IPA^(key): /ˈpa.tse/

pace (uncountable)

1. peace

From Latin pācem (“peace”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpa.t͡ʃe/

• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -atʃe
• Hyphenation: pà‧ce

pace f (plural paci)

1. peace

pace

1. (colloquial) peace be with you; that's it; end of the story

   pace e amen ― peace be with you and amen

• cape

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈpaː.kɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈpaː.t͡ʃe]

pāce f

1. ablative singular of pāx (“peace”)

pace

1. proceed; go forward
   • 1387-1410, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue

     Er that I ferther in this tale pace, / Me thynketh it acordaunt to resoun / To telle yow al the condicioun / Of ech of hem, so as it semed me, / And whiche they weren, and of what degree […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

pace

1. first-person singular present/imperative middle of pacati (“to cook”)
2. singular optative active of pacati (“to cook”)

Inherited from Malay pakcik or borrowed from Dutch paatje.

pace

1. form of address for a man

   Coordinate term: mace

• IPA^(key): /ˈpa.t͡sɛ/

• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -at͡sɛ
• Syllabification: pa‧ce

pace m animal

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of pac

pace f

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of paca

pace f

1. dative/locative singular of paka

• па́чє — pre-1860s Cyrillic spelling

Inherited from Latin pācem, accusative of pāx (“peace”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpat͡ʃe/

• Audio:

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pace f (uncountable)

1. peace

   Antonym: război

• pașnic

• împăca

• liniște

pace

1. inflection of pacer:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

From Middle English pees, from Anglo-Norman peis, from Latin pax.

• IPA^(key): /paːs/

pace

1. peace
   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 114, lines 19-21:

     —t'avance pace an livertie, an, wi'oute vlynch, ee garde o' generale reights an poplare vartue.

     to promote peace and liberty—the uncompromising guardian of common right and public virtue.

   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 114, lines 21-23:

     Ye pace——yea, we mai zei, ye vaste pace whilke bee ee-stent owr ye londe zince th'ast ee-cam,

     The peace——yes, we may say the profound peace—which overspreads the land since your arrival,

   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 116, lines 8-9:

     wee hert ee zough o'ye colure o' pace na name o' Mulgrave.

     we heard the distant sound of the wings of the dove of peace, in the word Mulgrave.

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 114