clickety-clack

American  

[klik-i-tee-klak] / ˈklɪk ɪ tiˈklæk /

noun

1. a rhythmic, swiftly paced succession of alternating clicks and clacks, as the sound produced by the wheels of a train moving over tracks.

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Etymology

Origin of clickety-clack

First recorded in 1875–80; metrical compound from click ¹, clack

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clickety-clack

The clickety-clack of high heels through various corridors of power is a constant in “Pelosi in the House,” documentarian Alexandra Pelosi’s film about her mother, Speaker of the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 13, 2022

And produce the satisfying clickety-clack of real writing.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 5, 2015

Our narrator, a Frenchman, sits with his family in the pews of Notre Dame mourning his grandfather when the clickety-clack of high heels disturbs the still air.

From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2012

How long would it be before these kids retreated into the dense clickety-clack äppärät world of their absorbed mothers and missing fathers?

From The New Yorker ● Jun. 7, 2010

The wheels slowed, clickety-clack, find the fifth, clickety-clack, find the fifth, as the motorman applied the brake and the train made its way ’round a steep mountain curve.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood