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Synonyms

rasping

American  
[ras-ping, rah-sping] / ˈræs pɪŋ, ˈrɑ spɪŋ /

adjective

  1. harsh; grating.

    a rasping voice.

noun

  1. a tiny piece of material removed by rasping or scraping.

    raspings of sawed wood.

  2. Cooking. raspings, dry breadcrumbs.

rasping British  
/ ˈrɑːspɪ, ˈrɑːspɪŋ /

adjective

  1. (esp of a noise) harsh or grating; rough

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of rasping

First recorded in 1650–60; rasp + -ing 2, -ing 1

Explanation

Something that's rasping has a harsh, scratchy sound. If your old car's rasping engine gets even louder, you might want to take it to a mechanic. You'll most often find the adjective rasping describing someone's voice: "His rasping singing voice accompanied the choir," or "I was so thirsty after the hike that i could only make a dry, rasping sound when I tried to talk." To rasp means to scrape, from the Old French verb rasper, or "to grate."

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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.