noun · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
rāk
/ɹeɪk/
[ɹeɪ̯kh]
rhymes with -eɪk
1
noun
Meaning 1
Suffering which comes as a result of vengeance or retribution.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
Wrecked state or condition; destruction, ruin.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
Obsolete form of wrack.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
verb
Meaning 4
Obsolete form of wrack.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Middle English wrake (“vengeance, persecution, injury”), from Old English wracu (“revenge, persecution, misery, etc.”), from Proto-Germanic *wrakō, likely related to *wrēkō (“persecution, revenge, vengeance”). Cognate with Gothic 𐍅𐍂𐌰𐌺𐌰 (wraka, “persecution”), Middle Low German wrake and Middle Dutch wrake.
Variant of wrack, possibly influenced by Etymology 1.