What does "rack" mean?
A series of one or more shelves, stacked one above the other.
Rack
/ɹæk/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A series of one or more shelves, stacked one above the other.
- Grammar: rack is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: stand, ache, adversity, afflict.
- Useful contrasts: comfort, conceal, ease.
- Usage evidence: Rack your brains a little harder.
How to use "rack"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "rack" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "rack" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "rack" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "rack" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "rack" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "stand" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
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Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "rack", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A series of one or more shelves, stacked one above the other.
- 2 Thin, flying, broken clouds, or any portion of floating vapour in the sky. uncountable
"The winds in the upper region, which move the clouds above, which we call the rack, […] pass without noise."
- 3 A fast amble.
- 4 A wreck; destruction. obsolete
"All goes to rack."
- 5 A young rabbit, or its skin. obsolete
"Now, sir, you would say a skin is a skin, we say it is a ' whole,' or a 'half,' or a 'quarter,' or a 'rack,' or a 'sucker. Suckers are skins of infant rabbits, and of little value. Eight racks are equal to one whole."
Show 28 more definitions
- 6 Alternative form of arak. alt-of, alternative, uncountable
"If it was my officers wanted a stone jar of rack or a dozen of bottled ale, I might manage 'em, but I'm nowhere with sacks."
- 7 Initialism of risk-aware consensual kink. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
- 8 a rapid gait of a horse in which each foot strikes the ground separately wordnet
- 9 Any of various kinds of frame for holding luggage or other objects on a vehicle or vessel.
- 10 a form of torture in which pain is inflicted by stretching the body wordnet
- 11 A device, incorporating a ratchet, used to torture victims by stretching them beyond their natural limits. historical
"Ay, but I fear you speak upon the rack, / Where men enforced do speak anything."
- 12 a support for displaying or holding various articles wordnet
- 13 A piece or frame of wood, having several sheaves, through which the running rigging passes.
- 14 an instrument of torture that stretches or disjoints or mutilates victims wordnet
- 15 A bunk. especially, slang
"Chief Stevens approached my rack and repeatedly ordered me to vacate my rack and report to the working party."
- 16 the destruction or collapse of something wordnet
- 17 Sleep. broadly, slang, uncountable
"Do I have to do this now? Like, I really need to get some rack."
- 18 rib section of a forequarter of veal or pork or especially lamb or mutton wordnet
- 19 A distaff.
- 20 A bar with teeth on its face or edge, to work with those of a gearwheel, pinion, or worm, which is to drive or be driven by it.
"Just beyond that station the first step is encountered and the rack resorted to, taking the line on a gradient of 1 in 9 over a steeply inclined bridge and through a spiral tunnel."
- 21 A bar with teeth on its face or edge, to work with a pawl as a ratchet allowing movement in one direction only, used for example in a handbrake or crossbow.
- 22 A cranequin, a mechanism including a rack, pinion and pawl, providing both mechanical advantage and a ratchet, used to bend and cock a crossbow.
- 23 A set of antlers (as on deer, moose or elk).
- 24 A cut of meat involving several adjacent ribs.
"I bought a rack of lamb at the butcher's yesterday."
- 25 A bone of a horse. obsolete
"The Par quadratum […] Their Use is to bend the Racks of the Loins with a right Motion forward or downward, but when one only acts, it draws the Loins to one Side somewhat downwards."
- 26 A hollow triangle used for aligning the balls at the start of a game.
- 27 A plastic tray used for holding and moving chips.
- 28 A woman's breasts. slang, vulgar
- 29 A friction device for abseiling, consisting of a frame with five or more metal bars, around which the rope is threaded.
"rappel rack"
- 30 A climber's set of equipment for setting up protection and belays, consisting of runners, slings, carabiners, nuts, Friends, etc. slang
"I used almost a full rack on the second pitch."
- 31 A grate on which bacon is laid.
- 32 A set with a distributive binary operation whose action on the set is invertible.
- 33 A thousand dollars, especially if the proceeds are from a crime. slang
Verb
- 1 To place in or hang on a rack.
- 2 To drive; move; go forward rapidly; stir.
- 3 To clarify, and thereby deter further fermentation of, beer, wine or cider by draining or siphoning it from the dregs.
"It is in common practice to draw wine or beer from the lees (which we call racking), whereby it will clarify much the sooner."
- 4 To amble fast, causing a rocking or swaying motion of the body; to pace.
"The other two (only racking, no thorough-paced protestants) watched their opportunity to run away"
- 5 torture on the rack wordnet
Show 25 more definitions
- 6 To torture (someone) on the rack.
"He was racked and miserably tormented."
- 7 To fly, as vapour or broken clouds.
- 8 seize together, as of parallel ropes of a tackle in order to prevent running through the block wordnet
- 9 To cause (someone) to suffer pain.
"Vaunting aloud but racked with deep despair."
- 10 place in a rack wordnet
- 11 To stretch or strain; to harass, or oppress by extortion. figuratively
"Try what my credit can in Venice do; / That shall be racked even to the uttermost."
- 12 work on a rack wordnet
- 13 To alternately concatenate two words to magical effect. obsolete
"Foꝛ when we heare one racke the name of God,/Abiure the ſcriptures, and his Sauiour Chꝛiſt..."
- 14 stretch to the limits wordnet
- 15 To put the balls into the triangular rack and set them in place on the table.
- 16 torment emotionally or mentally wordnet
- 17 To strike in the testicles. slang, transitive
"Bike7125 raises a great point suggesting that cups could have been recommended "optional" equipment in school PE. I never got racked by a baseball or softball, but we did have a gym teacher, who insisted on a weekly session of a "cruelty sport" called bombardment. The idea was to throw basketballs at a line of guys, and try to hit them. (Guess where most gym bullys aimed!)"
- 18 draw off from the lees wordnet
- 19 To shoplift (especially in a megastore), often by taking off of a rack. slang
"He racked three boxes of gum!"
- 20 fly in high wind wordnet
- 21 To take that which belongs to another, without regard of right or permission. broadly
- 22 run before a gale wordnet
- 23 To (manually) load (a round of ammunition) from the magazine or belt into firing position in an automatic or semiautomatic firearm.
- 24 go at a rack wordnet
- 25 To move the slide bar on a shotgun in order to chamber the next round.
- 26 obtain by coercion or intimidation wordnet
- 27 To wash (metals, ore, etc.) on a rack.
- 28 put on a rack and pinion wordnet
- 29 To bind together, as two ropes, with cross turns of yarn, marline, etc.
- 30 To tend to shear a structure (that is, force it to bend, lean, or move in different directions at different points).
"Post-and-lintel construction racks easily."
Example
"Rack your brains a little harder."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "rack"?
Common synonyms include: stand, ache, adversity, afflict, afflict, affliction.
How do you use "rack" in a sentence?
Rack your brains a little harder.
How do you pronounce "rack"?
Pronounced /ɹæk/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English rakke, rekke, from Middle Dutch rac, recke, rec (Dutch rek), see rekken.
Etymology 2
From Old English reċċan (“to stretch out, extend”).
Etymology 3
From Middle English reken, from Old Norse reka (“to be drifted, tost”) The noun is from Middle English rak, rakke, from Middle English rek (“drift; thing tossed ashore; jetsam”), from the verb.
Etymology 4
From Middle English rakken.
Etymology 5
See rack (“that which stretches”), or rock (verb).
Etymology 6
See wreck.
Etymology 7
Uncertain. Perhaps a contraction of rabbock, an alteration ( + -ock) of rabbit.