rattle around
phrasal verb
rattled around; rattling around; rattles around
informal
: to live or spend time in a place that is very big
Her husband died last year, and now she's just rattling around in that huge house by herself.
We rattled around Europe last summer.
—sometimes used figurativelyAn old song has been rattling around in my head all day.
Examples of rattle around in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
For the first time in 19 years, just two of us and our 12-pound Maltese Shih Tzu will be rattling around inside our family home.
—
Don Riddell, CNN Money, 10 Aug. 2025
These phrases started rattling around in my mind, like a song that gets stuck in your head.
—Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 9 July 2025
Nearly a month removed from the Toronto Raptors firing Masai Ujiri as the team’s president, there is a line that is still rattling around my brain from that Friday afternoon.
—Eric Koreen, New York Times, 24 July 2025
The results are occasionally adorable: This is a film in which our heroes have to rattle around in a spaceship, Interstellar style, to travel through a wormhole, while other characters can traverse the far reaches of the universe with a surfboard.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 22 July 2025
The album name had been rattling around her brain for months, born out of years of experiences trying to find the right combination of words to describe her sound to other people, particularly the American media.
—Cat Cardenas, Rolling Stone, 30 June 2025
Before that fight [in Cobra Kai], all these lines from Daniel's villains from the movies are all rattling around in his head before the skeletons start appearing.
—EW.com, 16 June 2025
There are about 114 billion pennies currently in circulation in the United States, the Treasury says, with an untold number buried in sofa cushions or rattling around under car floor mats.
—Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 22 May 2025
Jonah insists that Joseph take a turn with her, which Joseph graciously accepts, perhaps with his second wife’s words of warning rattling around his head.
—Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 15 Apr. 2025
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Don Riddell, CNN Money, 10 Aug. 2025
These phrases started rattling around in my mind, like a song that gets stuck in your head.
—Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 9 July 2025
Nearly a month removed from the Toronto Raptors firing Masai Ujiri as the team’s president, there is a line that is still rattling around my brain from that Friday afternoon.
—Eric Koreen, New York Times, 24 July 2025
The results are occasionally adorable: This is a film in which our heroes have to rattle around in a spaceship, Interstellar style, to travel through a wormhole, while other characters can traverse the far reaches of the universe with a surfboard.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 22 July 2025
The album name had been rattling around her brain for months, born out of years of experiences trying to find the right combination of words to describe her sound to other people, particularly the American media.
—Cat Cardenas, Rolling Stone, 30 June 2025
Before that fight [in Cobra Kai], all these lines from Daniel's villains from the movies are all rattling around in his head before the skeletons start appearing.
—EW.com, 16 June 2025
There are about 114 billion pennies currently in circulation in the United States, the Treasury says, with an untold number buried in sofa cushions or rattling around under car floor mats.
—Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 22 May 2025
Jonah insists that Joseph take a turn with her, which Joseph graciously accepts, perhaps with his second wife’s words of warning rattling around his head.
—Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 15 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rattle around.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rattle%20around. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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