rack one's brain
rack one's brain verb: to struggle to think of or remember something.
Verb
rack one's brain (third-person singular simple present racks one's brain, present participle racking one's brain, simple past and past participle racked one's brain)
- To struggle to think of or remember something.
- I have been racking my brain all day trying to think of a birthday present for her.
- Let’s face it – math isn’t for everyone. If you’re done racking your brains over a question based on quadratic equations, differential calculus, or even lengthy word problems, and can’t for the life of you figure out what’s what, then perhaps it’s time you let ChatGPT take up the role of a home...2023 January 19, Zohaib Ahmed, “Here’s how ChatGPT can help you deal with boring tasks so you can focus on things that matter”, in The Indian Express
Forms of rack one's brain
| third-person singular present | racks one's brain |
|---|---|
| present participle | racking one's brain |
| past participle | racked one's brain |
| past | racked one's brain |
| alternative form | rack one's brains |
| alternative form | wrack one's brain |
| alternative form | wrack one's brains |
Origin of rack one's brain
Combination of rack (“medieval torture method”), and brain, thus meaning “to cause the mind extreme discomfort”. Variants include rack one's wit (1583) and rack one's memory, as well as cudgel one's brain / cudgel one's brains.
Questions about rack one's brain
- What does rack one's brain mean?
- Rack one's brain means to struggle to think of or remember something.
- What part of speech is rack one's brain?
- Rack one's brain is a verb.
- What is the past tense of rack one's brain?
- The past tense of rack one's brain is racked one's brain.
Words near rack one's brain in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rack one's brain (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-au-rack one's brain.ogg.
Cite this entry: “rack one's brain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rack_one%27s_brain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.