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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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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
-
His most wrenching scene, when Stagg receives a devastating personal call but cannot react amid the intense geopolitical stakes, captured this tension.
-
Another wrenching question, of course, is whether at least the younger Perez siblings would want or need to go with Olga to Guatemala if she were deported.
Verb
-
For many years, both NASA and its Russian counterpart Roscosmos have struggled to contain persistent leaks plaguing the International Space Station.
-
His £55million move to Newcastle from Brentford last summer has proven disastrous so far, with injuries plaguing him and only three goals all season.
Verb
-
The beast screamed and flew away, pulling an attached anchor into the water.
-
Launched in 2004 to study gamma-ray bursts, Swift remains scientifically valuable, but atmospheric drag has been pulling it dangerously close to Earth.
Adjective
-
His agonizing response — Chisholm spent several minutes on the ground in pain — only seemed to confirm that.
-
There are many reasons the Rays have followed their amazing 22-4 stretch (from April 22-May 22) with an agonizing 7-15 run (May 24 through Wednesday).
Verb
-
Cholera, a waterborne bacterial disease, has unleashed a perilous wave across southern Africa, with active outbreaks currently afflicting five countries in southern and central Africa.
-
Never mind the economic turbulence afflicting the country and the world, driven most recently by rising gas prices because of the war in Iran.
Adjective
-
Good luck—these tiny, torturous bugs seem to be hard to dispose of, but there is a way to lure them in and disable them.
-
Shinnecock Hills is full of triangles — sneaky but massive, and always torturous triangles.
Verb
-
Biden weaponized Law Enforcement against his political opponent, while also persecuting many other innocent people.
-
Jack Hayford, the founder of the King’s University, in Texas, claimed that the film was persecuting Christians, who only wanted to be treated equally.
Adjective
-
Katherine Guaramaco described the experience as one of the most intense of her life.
-
The president highlighted the military operation in Iran that has proven deeply unpopular, and an immigration agenda that has provoked intense backlash.
Cite this Entry
“Racking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/racking. Accessed 26 Jun. 2026.
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