RACKED Synonyms: 110 Similar and Opposite Words

racked

verb

past tense of rack

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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 Some 30 years after Sporty Spice returned the tracksuit to its rightful place in pop culture’s top shelf, the British pop superstar is parting ways with three memorable pieces that will be racked in Australian Red Cross Shops. — Lars Brandle, Billboard, 2 Oct. 2026 But for all the concern about China’s advances in AI, the reality is that the country is racked by the same anxieties about the onrush of AI as the rest of the world. — Michael Schuman, The Atlantic, 19 Sep. 2026 The immature boy-king Richard II (Woody Norman) is racked with nightmares and unable to govern. — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 11 Sep. 2026 Congress authorized the emergency relief for immigrants whose countries had been racked by armed conflict or natural disasters and who could not safely return home. — Itzel Luna, Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for racked

Verb

Speculation and conspiracy theories have plagued Kirk’s death, fueled even by public figures such as Candace Owens, a longtime friend of Kirk, who has been outspoken about her belief that his death was orchestrated in an elaborate plot.

— Mackenzie Chase, The Washington Examiner, 14 Oct. 2026
Hoover’s replacement has thus far been a miss, and the problem that plagued this program in losses in each of the last two years has not changed.

— Mac Engel October 14, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of plagued

Verb

Shohei Ohtani emerged from the visiting dugout at American Family Field with a bat in his hand, and the mass of media members scattered in foul territory up the third-base line shifted his way, pulled by the magnetic force that is Ohtani’s stardom.

— Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026
On Wednesday, the Congressional Leadership Fund, the House Republicans' super PAC, effectively dropped its push to boost Tijerina and pulled millions of dollars in ads from the district, a person familiar with the decision confirmed.

— Justin Papp, CNBC, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of pulled

Verb

Love contains the seeds of its own destruction—the cruelty and self-absorption that turns the afflicted against one another, and themselves.

— Merve Emre, New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2026
While the epicenter was located in Nantou County in central Taiwan, serious damage afflicted residents across the island as roads buckled, bridges collapsed and landslides destroyed everything in their path.

— Desiree Anello, PEOPLE, 21 Sep. 2026

Definition of afflicted

Verb

Those governments provide assurances that people won’t be persecuted or tortured, federal attorneys said.

— Lindsay Whitehurst, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2026
Also, some immigration cases involve people seeking asylum because they are being persecuted by a foreign government and releasing a person’s full name could be considered sensitive or even dangerous.

— Laura Tillman, Hartford Courant, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of persecuted

Verb

Hundreds of thousands of women were tried, tortured, and executed for witchcraft in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Oct. 2026
According to Bilal and his brother Judy, neither Ahmed nor anyone else in his family had ever been arrested or tortured by the regime.

— Ben Taub, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of tortured

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rack

racked

racked up

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“Racked.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/racked. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of racked

verb

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