knack
/næk/
knack noun: a readiness in performance; aptness at doing something.
Noun
knack (plural knacks)
- A readiness in performance; aptness at doing something.
- These men had some uncanny knack of knowing when the steel was right, and like many such things, it just could not be put into a textbook on the subject.1945 January and February, A Former Pupil, “Some memories of Crewe Works—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 14
- The sophist runs for cover to the darkness of what is not and attaches himself to it by some knack of his;2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 254a
- A petty contrivance; a toy.
- Synonyms:
- plaything, knickknack, toy
- Something performed, or to be done, requiring aptness and dexterity.
Verb
knack (third-person singular simple present knacks, present participle knacking, simple past and past participle knacked)
Proper noun capitalized: Knack
Knack (plural Knacks)
- A surname.
knack meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
knack in Tamil
- செய்திறன், தனிச் செயற் பண்பு, திறமை, நுண்திறம், திறம், நெளிவு சுளிவு
knack in Urdu
- knack, talent, skill
- استعداد isti'dād
- knack, masterliness, mastership
- استادی ustādī
knack in Malayalam
- പാടവം, നൈപുണ്യം, മിടുക്ക്
knack in Kannada
- ವಿಶಿಷ್ಟ ಕೌಶಲ, ಚಾತುರ್ಯ, ಚಾಲಾಕು, ಜಾಣ್ಮೆ, ಉಪಾಯ
More languagesFewer languages
- knack in Punjabi
- وتر vattar, ਢੰਗ ḍhaṅg
Examples of knack in a sentence
- He had a knack for running afoul of the law.
- He had a knack for getting in trouble.
- She had a knack for overstatement.
Synonyms of knack
Forms of knack
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | knacks |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | knacks |
| present participle | knacking |
| past participle | knacked |
| past | knacked |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Knacks |
Origin of knack
Late Middle English, use as "special skill" from 1580. Possibly from 14th century Middle English krak, knack (“a sharp sound or blow”), knakke, knakken, from Middle Low German and of imitative origin, similar to Dutch knak (“snap, crack”). Latter cognate to German knacken (“to crack”). See also crack.
German surname, variant of Knaack. Also as a German surname, from Bavarian genack (“neck”); see German Genick (“nape of the neck”), English neck.
Words formed from knack
Words that rhyme with knack
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- plaque
- whack
- slack
- Cadillac
- swack
- thwack
- pac
- shack
- bivouac
- cack
- clack
- gack
- lack
- smack
- unpack
- wrack
- aback
- flak
- hark back
- mack
- claque
- flack
- quack
- shellac
- snack
- yak
- Aach
- ack
- gak
- mac
- Meshach
- multitrack
- plack
- snacc
- wack
- akh
- alack
- awrack
- brach
- cac
- Cayman Brac
- Chiraq
- cook back
- craic
- diclofenac
- dictionary attack
- dime back
- fac
Questions about knack
- What does knack mean?
- Knack means a readiness in performance; aptness at doing something.
- What is knack in Tamil?
- Knack in Tamil is செய்திறன், தனிச் செயற் பண்பு, திறமை. See Knack meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is knack?
- Knack can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce knack?
- Knack is pronounced /næk/.
- What is the plural of knack?
- The plural of knack is knacks.
Words near knack in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: knack (page history and authors); Knack (page history and authors); knack (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); استادی (Urdu) (page history and authors); knack (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); knack (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); وتر (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-knack.ogg, Knack.wav.
Cite this entry: “knack.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/knack. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.