wracking

present participle of wrack
as in destroying
to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of it's amazing how a raging sea can wrack a seemingly sturdy beachfront home

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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 wracking After that harrowing hike up the boulder field, the nerve-wracking exposure of our search site has pushed even this steadfast high-drive purebred over threshold. Ted Katauskas, Outside, 23 Sep. 2025 He’s benefited from a thriving running game too, with Buffalo back James Cook wracking up 284 yards on the ground and four scores. Ben Morse, CNN Money, 23 Sep. 2025 With Lionsgate‘s nerve-wracking new horror movie, the multi-faceted actress is now on her second Stephen King adaptation — opening in theaters September 12. Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 9 Sep. 2025 Here, tackling a masterpiece felt like a more complex, more nerve-wracking experience. Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 2 Sep. 2025 Air conditioning was probably a good idea for the three contestants who were formally dressed and answered nerve-wracking pageant questions. Karie Angell Luc, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2025 After a week of monitoring their usual intake with smart bottles and fluid diaries, the volunteers returned to the lab to take part in the Trier Social Stress Test, which mimics a nerve-wracking job interview where participants give a speech and perform mental arithmetic while being observed. New Atlas, 21 Aug. 2025 What followed for the rest of the demo was a complex and nerve-wracking chase sequence. David Jagneaux, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wracking
Verb
  • Since then, the Internet has gone about its immemorial business of destroying all incumbent forms of media; not content with vampirizing print, the digital space began sucking the life from pay-TV a dozen years ago.
    Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 3 Oct. 2025
  • Critics say returning the company without meaningful payment undercuts accountability and the compensatory purpose of the judgments; others note trustees and Judge Lopez have to avoid value-destroying, prolonged processes.
    Robert Alexander, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Doing so could compromise the slight taper at the hem, ruining the silhouette.
    Shea Simmons, PEOPLE, 22 Sep. 2025
  • Car designers love them for not ruining the lines of the door with the necessities of real life, but is the benefit from drag reduction worth the safety risk?
    Jonathan M. Gitlin, ArsTechnica, 10 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Juni was shot in the head twice, with one bullet skimming her eye, and the other shattering her jaw.
    Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
  • Bonded by a mysterious, complicated past, the men share a fraught, if occasionally tender relationship that had been forever altered by shattering events decades earlier.
    Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 28 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Not even a month had passed since his big sister, Toraya, was shot and killed at an apartment complex in New Jersey, devastating the Reid family and shaking the Timberwolves organization to its core.
    Jon Krawczynski, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2025
  • Oil was discovered there in the 1920s, and the county went through booms and busts for decades, enriching wildcatters and devastating the landscape, until a lasting bust left Loving County a virtual wasteland with no running water, paved roads, schools, hospitals, or grocery stores.
    Mitch Moxley, Rolling Stone, 27 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Adam Berry/Getty Images What To Know Phoenix police said in a release to media that a 19-year-old was detained after wrecking a memorial for Kirk at the office of Turning Point USA, the conservative campus group that Kirk co-founded.
    Robert Birsel, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Sep. 2025
  • Despite the mixed reception, the money counter was an earnest attempt to keep the show running on schedule, preventing one or two self-indulgent speakers from wrecking the running time.
    Dani Di Placido, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Tens of thousands have been fleeing the city, which has seen Israel demolishing high-rise buildings.
    Caitlin Danaher, CNN Money, 20 Sep. 2025
  • Preservationists stepped in to keep the company from its standard practice of demolishing a vacant building.
    Cheryl V. Jackson, IndyStar, 18 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Brown climbed the ladder to haul in a pass over the middle from Madsen, beating his defender in the air acrobatically before smashing into the end zone turf for the catch and a 33-14 lead.
    Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman, 28 Sep. 2025
  • Superman proved to fire off the new DC under chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran, while the original gambles that Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy have made at the larger Warner Bros Motion Picture Group with Sinners and F1, as well as new IP A Minecraft Movie, have been smashing successes.
    Anthony D'Alessandro, Deadline, 26 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Marc Marquez says his latest MotoGP championship win carries a weight that goes beyond his statistics, describing it as the culmination of years spent overcoming injury, self-doubt and an inner battle to continue.
    Alex Harrington, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Sep. 2025
  • In 2024, the Hurricanes started 9-0, including overcoming double-digit deficits against Virginia Tech, California and Duke in the early portion of its conference schedule.
    Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 28 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Wracking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wracking. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.

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