racked

verb

past tense of rack
1
as in plagued
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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in pulled
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. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of racked The case centers on one of the most volatile chapters in UCLA history — the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests that racked the university, culminating in a violent spring attack at a campus encampment. — Jaweed Kaleem, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2026 This version centers a guilt-racked and traumatized Odysseus—and leaves gods and fates, mystery and wonder largely out of the picture. — Caroline Mimbs Nyce, New Yorker, 17 July 2026 The country many will return to is racked by extreme gang violence and has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. — Laura Tillman, Hartford Courant, 26 June 2026 Seeing a person react with kindness and not ridicule – that’s radical at a time when American society seems racked with division and social media encourages public criticism and vitriol. — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 1 June 2026 Either way, our jaws have been adequately dropped, our nerves properly racked, and our nails thoroughly bitten by the end of each episode. — Britt Hayes, Entertainment Weekly, 28 May 2026 The final decade of the artist’s life was itself marked by its own fraught geopolitics, with the political upheaval and global conflict that racked the world in the 1930s, prior to Klee’s death in 1940. — Brian Boucher, ARTnews.com, 11 May 2026 Police said the sound of a firearm being racked can be heard on the video just before a shot was heard in the dining area. — Skyler Shepard, Sun Sentinel, 28 Apr. 2026 Sure enough, in a subsequent watch-through-your-fingers climbing scene, a harrowing mishap leaves him dead and Sasha racked with guilt. — Guy Lodge, Variety, 23 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for racked
  1. plagued
  2. pulled
  3. afflicted
  4. persecuted
  5. tortured
Verb
  • Garbage’s set was plagued by technical difficulties, but singer Shirley Manson kept her cool, joking that this was just the kind of thing the band was used to.
    — Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Rolling Stone, 30 Aug. 2026
  • The research team identified opportunities to improve the atomic layer etching (ALE) approach, which offers significant advantages over the conventional methods but was plagued by difficulties for practical use.
    — Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of plagued
Verb
  • But Joshi says mental health care is often treated as an afterthought in disaster situations, and resources can get pulled before people have fully made sense of the trauma.
    — Jonathan Lambert, NPR, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Cheers erupted as video on Friday showed the first man – 30-year-old mechanical foreman Sanjay Sah – being pulled from the tunnel.
    — Sana Noor Haq, CNN Money, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of pulled
Verb
  • The global food system is afflicted by uncertainty across many domains—weather, supply chains, labor, trade, and beyond.
    — Anna Nelson, Foreign Affairs, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Over 600,000 women a year in America are afflicted with postpartum depression in America, research shows.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of afflicted
Verb
  • García Luna pledged to restore independence and public confidence in the Public Ministry and began reviewing cases involving officials, journalists, and others who alleged that they had been politically persecuted under the previous administration.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Many Marranos persecuted by the Inquisition did secretly maintain a Jewish identity.
    — Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of persecuted
Verb
  • King seemed stranded in a faraway world, tortured by a discomfort that no amount of affection could soothe.
    — Laura Preston, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Hatami has spearheaded a number of high-profile cases against child abusers in Los Angeles, California, including the murder of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez, who was tortured and killed by his mother and her boyfriend.
    — Michael Ruiz, FOXNews.com, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of tortured

Browse Nearby Words

rack
racked
racked up
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Cite this Entry

“Racked.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/racked. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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