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.

---

Etymology

Origin of clickety-clack

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

Example Sentences

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

“You could hear the sound of the neutron counter, clickety-clack, clickety-clack,” said Herb Anderson.

From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin