as in wrenching
intensely or unbearably painful
a racking cough kept him awake all night
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
1
as in plaguing
to cause persistent suffering to
the young man was racked with guilt over the lie he had told to his parents the country has been racked by years of civil war
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in pulling
to injure by overuse, misuse, or pressure
she racked her brain trying to remember where she'd put the money the sails of the boat were racked by the storm's winds
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of racking
Jim Farmer, AJC.com, 10 June 2026
Theories of how the book survived Library Manager Myles Cooper has been racking his brain for an explanation of how the book found its way home.
—Sneha Dhandapani, CNN Money, 30 May 2026
Detectives said the witness also told police about a video that had surfaced online that appeared to show Jones going to his vehicle, retrieving an object, and then making a racking motion consistent with using a gun before walking to where the shooting unfolded.
—Matthew Ablon, CBS News, 27 Apr. 2026
Since avian flu turned eggs into a luxury item, pastry chef Annie Clemmons has spent countless hours in her Maryland workshop, racking her brains about how to replace them in her recipes.
—Alex Harring, CNBC, 26 Feb. 2026
Video footage showed Curry shooting with his left hand, racking the gun to fix a malfunction, taking out and reinserting a magazine, then checking his abdomen, apparently realizing he has been shot.
—Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 24 Feb. 2026
On the small screen, the influencer Gabriella Carr recently drew her sizable flock to a rejection spreadsheet, where the video creator and actress means to track all her professional door-slams with an eye to racking ’em up.
—Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 4 Feb. 2026
He was accused of taking his gun out of his holster, racking the gun and pointing it at both people.
—Jeff A. Chamer
december 11, Charlotte Observer, 11 Dec. 2025
The machines autonomously lifted and placed panels onto racking structures, at the Goorambat East site, located near the city of Benalla, approximately 130 miles northeast of Melbourne.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 3 Oct. 2025
Verb
Six years ago, Donald Milton III, artistic director of the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus, was having lunch with the organization’s accompanist, Eric Baumgartner, racking their respective brains about future projects.
—Jim Farmer, AJC.com, 10 June 2026
Theories of how the book survived Library Manager Myles Cooper has been racking his brain for an explanation of how the book found its way home.
—Sneha Dhandapani, CNN Money, 30 May 2026
Detectives said the witness also told police about a video that had surfaced online that appeared to show Jones going to his vehicle, retrieving an object, and then making a racking motion consistent with using a gun before walking to where the shooting unfolded.
—Matthew Ablon, CBS News, 27 Apr. 2026
Since avian flu turned eggs into a luxury item, pastry chef Annie Clemmons has spent countless hours in her Maryland workshop, racking her brains about how to replace them in her recipes.
—Alex Harring, CNBC, 26 Feb. 2026
Video footage showed Curry shooting with his left hand, racking the gun to fix a malfunction, taking out and reinserting a magazine, then checking his abdomen, apparently realizing he has been shot.
—Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 24 Feb. 2026
On the small screen, the influencer Gabriella Carr recently drew her sizable flock to a rejection spreadsheet, where the video creator and actress means to track all her professional door-slams with an eye to racking ’em up.
—Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 4 Feb. 2026
He was accused of taking his gun out of his holster, racking the gun and pointing it at both people.
—Jeff A. Chamer
december 11, Charlotte Observer, 11 Dec. 2025
The machines autonomously lifted and placed panels onto racking structures, at the Goorambat East site, located near the city of Benalla, approximately 130 miles northeast of Melbourne.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 3 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for racking
Adjective
-
Perhaps the most wrenching scene is one in which Anders, seated alone in a busy café, tunes in to ordinary conversations around him.—
Margaret Talbot,
New Yorker,
3 Nov. 2025
-
Below, the entire heart-wrenching, 24-hour saga.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
20 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
While Rusi remains on the streets pending trial, Taghavi suggests the saga could signify an overarching problem plaguing local and state authorities regarding repeat offenders being released into communities as officials remain in the dark.—
Julia Bonavita,
FOXNews.com,
10 Dec. 2025
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Officials also highlighted an intensified effort to curb the rodent population plaguing areas around the city.—
Aaron Parseghian,
CBS News,
9 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
There’s a lot of repairing and resolution that needs to happen in this final episode, but luckily things start strong with Liz and Jo-Ellen pulling each other aside to talk things through on the beach.—
Tom Smyth,
Vulture,
15 June 2026
-
But Hong Kong has a way of pulling people back.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
15 June 2026
Adjective
-
Gruesome as his actions might be, they were done in the hope of sparing a child from an even more agonizing end.—
Josh Weiss,
Forbes.com,
11 June 2026
-
Settling on Heise, Pannek and Rooney as the first three players to protect was agonizing, Caruso and Klee said.—
John Shipley,
Twin Cities,
8 June 2026
Verb
-
Send it Boston’s way, to give financial muscle to the problem afflicting Mass and Cass and Beyond.—
Boston Herald editorial staff,
Boston Herald,
1 July 2025
-
That rising heat also correlated with extreme drought — afflicting almost half of the global land area in 2023 — which correlated in turn with an additional 151 million people experiencing some form of food insecurity.—
Saul Elbein,
The Hill,
30 Oct. 2024
Adjective
-
The earnings report is the first by the company following the August close of the merger of Paramount and Skydance after a long and torturous regulatory process.—
Dade Hayes,
Deadline,
10 Nov. 2025
-
Randolph’s relatively easy beginnings are a special case; greenlighting energy projects is often a torturous, years-long process.—
Sophie Hartley,
IndyStar,
16 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Biden weaponized Law Enforcement against his political opponent, while also persecuting many other innocent people.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
11 June 2026
-
Behind the story One of the really big stories on my beat covering China for the last decade has been Beijing's intensive ramp-up in detaining and persecuting Uyghurs, a primarily Muslim ethnic minority.—
Brittney Melton,
NPR,
26 May 2026
Adjective
-
Thanks to more than 200 years of intense and virtuoso scientific work, what were once valid or at least plausible concerns and objections to vaccines have been overcome.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2026
-
Whether Tuchel will, in fact, be able to produce a more intense high-pressing style this summer, given the climate and the dense schedule, is another matter.—
Jack Pitt-Brooke,
New York Times,
10 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Racking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/racking. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
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