rasping 1 of 2

adjective

as in hoarse
harsh and dry in sound a patient beset by a rasping cough from years of smoking

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rasping

2 of 2

verb

present participle of rasp
1
as in rubbing
to make smooth by friction after sawing the board in half, rasp the ends to remove any splinters

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2
as in scratching
to pass roughly and noisily over or against a surface the sound of fingernails rasping on the blackboard makes me cringe

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3
as in annoying
to disturb the peace of mind of (someone) especially by repeated disagreeable acts the two siblings seemed intent on rasping each other for the entire car trip

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in eroding
to damage or diminish by continued friction during the last ice age, glaciers rasped the surface, leaving the deeply scarred rock

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of rasping
Verb
Yet Karter is utterly at ease behind the mic, rasping through a wistful melody with an unlit cigarette between her fingers, a black motorcycle jacket slipping off one shoulder. — Steve Appleford, SPIN, 6 July 2026 Thiaw paced, head bowed, arms crossed, as his Senegal players celebrated Gueye’s second rasping shot of the afternoon. — Amy Lawrence, New York Times, 26 June 2026 Koulibaly misjudged a clearance and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy was unable to keep out substitute Marcus Pedersen’s rasping shot to give Norway the lead close to halftime. — Monica Alba, NBC news, 24 June 2026 The voice was faint and rasping, like the sound of pebbles raked by a wave. — Maggie O’Farrell, Literary Hub, 2 June 2026 When the beetle takes flight, the woman, who is busy unpacking, doesn’t realize for a moment that there’s something out of place about that rasping ruckus, that foreign hum. — María Ospina, The Dial, 31 Mar. 2026 Thrips have rasping, sucking mouthparts. — Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 3 Mar. 2026 Negron, in particular, completely throws himself into it, rasping and howling and wailing out ad-libs. — Paul Grein, Billboard, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rasping
  1. hoarse
  2. rubbing
  3. scratching
  4. annoying
  5. eroding
  6. gruff
  7. grinding
  8. scraping
Adjective
  • When 39 days of elite physical punishment concluded with stadium lights dimming across North America, millions of fans limped away from watch parties with hoarse voices and sore feet.
    — Lilian Raji, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2026
  • The other was a tearing beauty, a creature so lovely that one look at her sent young men’s blood pressure skyward and set them to uttering wild, hoarse cries and tearing telephone directories apart with the bare hands.
    — John Madson, Outdoor Life, 1 July 2026
Definition of hoarse
Verb
  • Republicans are rubbing their hands in glee at the neocommunist advance in their opposing party.
    — Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Rather than rubbing the stain deeper into the fabric, blotting motions will gently remove as much product as possible.
    — Jamie Cuccinelli, Martha Stewart, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of rubbing
Verb
  • There are different types of algae scrapers for both glass and acrylic fish tanks, so choose accordingly to avoid scratching or damaging the aquarium.
    — BestReviews, Mercury News, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Meanwhile, for those of us steeped in the tech field, there is quite a bit of head scratching going on.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of scratching
Verb
  • Of course, this would depend on whether the managers choose to pick their strongest teams in what for some is a meaningless, even annoying extra fixture, for squads who just want to go home.
    — Eduardo Tansley, New York Times, 18 July 2026
  • The Manchester City star is fully back to his 2024 Ballon d’Or-winning self, marshaling the middle, providing amazing connection between the front and back and even annoying the French players with some gamesmanship near the end.
    — Patrick Sung Cuadrado, CNN Money, 14 July 2026
Definition of annoying
Verb
  • Each one functions like a coarse grain of sand, eroding the certainties and stereotypes that harden racial discourse.
    — Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Meanwhile, the soil surrounding the house is eroding and the structure is sinking.
    — William Earl, Variety, 8 Aug. 2026
Definition of eroding
Adjective
  • Pangan remembers of Brun, imitating his gruff voice, and shaking her head.
    — Guthrie Scrimgeour, Rolling Stone, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Experiments In Offline Dating by Kat Mackenzie Maya Davis travels to Ireland to find love the old-fashioned way for her dating podcast, only to endure the most disastrous blind date of her life with a gruff sheep farmer.
    — Kait Hanson, Southern Living, 31 July 2026
Definition of gruff
Verb
  • The banking business model is built atop an army of young analysts (and, in time, associates and VPs) grinding through deals.
    — Ryan Craig, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2026
  • Every woman, child, and man alive was out here grinding all day every day except on Lincoln’s Birthday in death-trap packing plants controlled by a five-man syndicate called the Beef Trust.
    — Claire Carusillo, Harpers Magazine, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of grinding
Verb
  • Bourdain was doing all of the grunt work at the Flagship, scrubbing pots and pans, scraping plates, peeling potatoes, and cleaning shrimp.
    — Olivia B. Waxman, Time, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Today’s blog post further claimed that Old Reddit is leading to unwarranted content scraping.
    — Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of scraping

Browse Nearby Words

rasped
rasping
rasps
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Cite this Entry

“Rasping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rasping. Accessed 14 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of rasping for Spanish Speakers

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