clack
Americanverb (used without object)
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to make a quick, sharp sound, or a succession of such sounds, as by striking or cracking.
The loom clacked busily under her expert hands.
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to talk rapidly and continually or with sharpness and abruptness; chatter.
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to cluck or cackle.
verb (used with object)
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to utter by clacking.
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to cause to clack.
He clacked the cup against the saucer.
noun
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a clacking sound.
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something that clacks, as a rattle.
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rapid, continual talk; chatter.
verb
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to make or cause to make a sound like that of two pieces of wood hitting each other
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(intr) to jabber
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a less common word for cluck
noun
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a short sharp sound
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a person or thing that produces this sound
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chatter
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Also called: clack valve. a simple nonreturn valve using either a hinged flap or a ball
Other Word Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has clackedperfect 3rd person singular
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have clackedperfect
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am clackingprogressive 1st person singular
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clackingparticiple
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are clackingprogressive
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clackssingular 3rd person
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has been clackingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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is clackingprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been clackingperfect progressive
Past
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had clackedperfect
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had been clackingperfect progressive
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were clackingprogressive plural
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clackedsimple
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clackedparticiple
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was clackingprogressive singular
Future
Etymology
Origin of clack
1200–50; Middle English clacken; imitative
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The gunshot clack that follows is resin on resin, the cue ball rippling off the pack of reds, signalling the start of a stage show without a script.
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026
Imagine “the incessant clack of cowboy boots against the cobblestones” that could have been, he thinks.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025
I will read each new directive from my political leadership and clack away at my keyboard to implement it as best as I can.
From Slate • Feb. 7, 2025
“Let’s go, let’s go,” Barraza says, striding through the halls, each clack of his leather boots ringing out like an act of defiance to a society that has long rejected people like him.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 1, 2024
And if she turned away from faces looking past her through restaurant windows, that Violet heard the clack of the plate glass in mean March wind.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
