wrack

[ rak ]

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.

verb (used with object)

1. to wreck:

   He wracked his car up on the river road.

wrack

¹

/ ræk /

noun

1. collapse or destruction (esp in the phrase wrack and ruin )
2. something destroyed or a remnant of such

verb

1. a variant spelling of rack 1

wrack

²

/ 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

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of wrack¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of wrack¹

Old English wræc persecution, misery; related to Gothic wraka, Old Norse rāk. Compare wreck , wretch

Origin of wrack²

C14 (in the sense: a wrecked ship, wreckage, hence later applied to marine vegetation washed ashore): perhaps from Middle Dutch wrak wreckage; the term corresponds to Old English wræc wrack ¹

Idioms and Phrases

see under rack .

Example Sentences

So I began to wrack my brain to come up at least once a day with a pearl of wit or wisdom.

From The Daily Beast

Now I say it ain't a-goin' to be more'n two hours befo' this wrack breaks up and washes off down the river.

From Project Gutenberg

And they came forward like the wrack of a surviving army at judgement day.

From Project Gutenberg

Suddenly something seemed to rise and assume form out of the storm-wrack, and this gradually grew into the shape of a vessel.

From Project Gutenberg

The waters of the sea are poured in thunder wrack upon the hills and run in rivers back into the sea.

From Project Gutenberg

The moon had gone in, and a misty scud-wrack spreading itself overhead was creeping around the dim crags on high.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• decimate
• torment
• wreck