wrack

American  

[rak] / ræk /

noun

1. wreck or wreckage.

2. damage or destruction.

   wrack and ruin.

3. a trace of something destroyed.

   leaving not a wrack behind.

4. seaweed or other vegetation cast on the shore.

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verb (used with object)

1. to wreck.

   He wracked his car up on the river road.

wrack ¹ British  

/ ræk /

noun

1. seaweed or other marine vegetation that is floating in the sea or has been cast ashore

2. any of various seaweeds of the genus Fucus, such as F. serratus ( serrated wrack )

3. literary

   1. a wreck or piece of wreckage

   2. a remnant or fragment of something destroyed

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wrack ² British  

/ ræk /

noun

1. collapse or destruction (esp in the phrase wrack and ruin )

2. something destroyed or a remnant of such

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verb

1. a variant spelling of rack 1

wrack Idioms  

1. see under rack.

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Usage

The use of the spelling wrack rather than rack in sentences such as she was wracked by grief or the country was wracked by civil war is very common but is thought by many people to be incorrect

Etymology

Origin of wrack

First recorded before 900; Middle English wrak (noun), Old English wræc “vengeance, misery,” akin to wracu “vengeance, misery,” wrecan “to drive out, punish”; wreak

Example Sentences

Florence, wracked by dissent and besieged by the Holy Roman Empire, remained in ferment until the Medicis consolidated power in 1530 into what became the Duchy of Florence.

From The Wall Street Journal

Now Tansy wracked her brain for what came next.

From Literature

"In other words, these people are coming into a country that is wracked by drought, that has unemployment, and that now has conflict inside it."

From Barron's

For a second, I thought it was Hannie, and I felt wracked with shame and guilt for being such a snooper.

From Literature

While Vesia’s statement was wracked with sorrow, it was also filled with gratitude.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• decimate
• torment
• wreck