quack

¹ American  

[kwak] / kwæk /

noun

1. the harsh, throaty cry of a duck or any similar sound.

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verb (used without object)

1. to utter the cry of a duck or a sound resembling it.

quack ² American  

[kwak] / kwæk /

noun

1. a fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill.

   Desperation for a cure led her to a quack who took her money.

2. a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, or qualifications they do not possess; a charlatan.

   Synonyms:

   phony, mountebank

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adjective

1. being a fraudulent or ignorant pretender to skills, especially medical skills.

   He's just a quack psychologist who complicates everyone's problems.

2. presented falsely as having curative powers.

   quack medicine.

3. of, relating to, or befitting a quack or quackery.

   Her quack methods have helped no one.

verb (used with object)

1. to treat in the manner of a fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill.

2. to advertise or sell with fraudulent claims.

quack ¹ British  

/ kwæk /

noun

1. 1. an unqualified person who claims medical knowledge or other skills

   2. ( as modifier )

      a quack doctor

2. informal a doctor; physician or surgeon

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verb

1. (intr) to act in the manner of a quack

quack ² British  

/ kwæk /

verb

1. (of a duck) to utter a harsh guttural sound

2. to make a noise like a duck

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noun

1. the harsh guttural sound made by a duck

Other Word Forms

• quackish adjective
• quackishly adverb
• quackishness noun

Etymology

Origin of quack¹

First recorded in 1570–80; imitative; compare Dutch kwakken, German quacken

Origin of quack²

First recorded in 1630–40; short for quacksalver

Example Sentences

Little wonder, then, that many patients preferred the services of women healers, or would take a risk on “quacks”—traveling salesmen selling ointments from town to town—rather than risk a visit to a hospital.

From The Wall Street Journal

“The Doctors’ Riot of 1788” centers on the New York incident but also tells the broader story of medicine in the early American republic, including quack cures and smallpox panics.

From The Wall Street Journal

The dead duck on the mantelpiece let out a single protesting quack, but the portrait of Edward Ashton remained unchanged.

From Literature

“Mother getting married? Some quack fortune-teller raising the dead, in my own home? Not sure how I feel about any of it, frankly. If anyone is looking for me, I’ll be at my club.”

From Literature

One of the firm’s employees, sitting with a colleague beside a pond in Central Park, noted that ducks quacking nearby sounded like they were saying “Aflac.”

From The Wall Street Journal