ratchet

/ˈɹæt͡ʃɪt/

ratchet noun: a pawl, click, or detent for holding or propelling a ratchet wheel, or ratch, etc. Also the ellipsis of full ratchet.

Image: SVG: Dr. Schorsch Animation: MichaelFrey, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

ratchet (plural ratchets)

A pawl, click, or detent for holding or propelling a ratchet wheel, or ratch, etc.
A mechanism composed of a ratchet wheel, or ratch and pawl.
A ratchet wrench.
(broadly) A procedure or regulation that goes in one direction, usually up.
- The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments. Each one in turn clicks up the ratchet of surveillance, intrusion and security. Each one diminishes liberty.2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 2, page 23
A mechanism for generating a new unique key for each message by moving forward in a sequence.
A noisemaker or musical instrument where sound is generated by a board striking against a rotating gear.
- Ahead of them a group of mandibulous sales men had set up their combustion cups and incendiary ratchets to demonstrate their wares to whatever officers might come by.2013, Charles Morgan, Youthful Folly, →ISBN, page 94

Verb

ratchet (third-person singular simple present ratchets, present participle ratcheting, simple past and past participle ratcheted)

(intransitive) To increment or decrement; especially, to offer controlled motion that can increment while resisting decrement, or vice versa.
- This holddown ratchets, which allows the person loading the trailer to cinch down the straps.
- Compared with the excellent scroll wheels on the Basilisk V3 and G502 X, the G203’s scroll wheel feels less defined and mushier in its ratcheting.2024 January 16, Kimber Streams, “The Best Gaming Mouse”, in Wirecutter
(transitive) To cause (something) to become incremented or decremented.
- Get this holddown into position, but don't start ratcheting it yet. When I say go, you start ratcheting it, OK?
- It's time to ratchet up the intensity level here.

Adjective

ratchet (comparative more ratchet, superlative most ratchet)

(US, derogatory, slang) Ghetto; unseemly, indecorous.
- The one thing that always accompanies Miley's ratchet look (along with the gang signs) is the tongue, which is sort of like saying this persona that she has adopted is some sort of gonzo idiot who can't keep its tongue in her head.2013 September 24, Elspeth Reeve, Brian Moylan, “Miley Cyrus's Tongue: A Debate”, in The Atlantic
- The feminine-meets-fiesty creations are right on par with all the reasons we love the rightgeously^([sic]) ratchet “Work” singer — and she knows it.2016 April 19, Julee Wilson, “Rihanna's Latest Sock Collection is Exactly What You'd Expect...and More”, in Essence

Noun (2)

ratchet (plural ratchets)

(US, derogatory, slang) A person, usually a female, who acts or behaves in a ghetto, unseemly, or indecorous way or manner.
- I love it when jaboons let their jibbering get them in 5 times as much trouble as they're already in. Let's see if this ratchet can keep her dick trap shut in court.2023 January 3, KWILLS, soc.culture.african.american (Usenet)

Also used as

ratchet is also the ellipsis of full ratchet.

ratchet meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Telugu and Kannada

ratchet in Tamil

ராட்செட், ரட்செட், ராட்செட் செய்ய

ratchet in Marathi

रॅटकेट, रॅटचेट, रॅटकेट करण्यासाठी

ratchet in Telugu

రాట్చెట్

ratchet in Kannada

ರಾಟ್ಚೆಟ್

More languagesFewer languages

ratchet in Odia: ରାଟ୍ଚେଟ୍, ରାଚେଟ୍ କରିବା ପାଇଁ, ର୍ଯ଼ାଚେଟ୍ କରିବା ପାଇଁ
ratchet in Nepali: र्याचेट
ratchet in Persian: ضامن چرخ دنده zâmen-e čarx-dande, چرخ ضامندار čarx-e zâmen-dâr

Examples of ratchet in a sentence

The whole gang started striding toward the line, and I forgot I had a ratchet on me.
Out of the three of us, she was the loudest and the most ratchet.
Harsh ratcheting sounds came from outside the SUV, penetrating the constant feed from the military band radio.

All 15 example sentences with ratchet

Forms of ratchet

Noun
plural	ratchets
alternative form (archaic)	rachet
Verb
third-person singular present	ratchets
present participle	ratcheting
past participle	ratcheted
past	ratcheted
Adjective
comparative	more ratchet
superlative	most ratchet

Plural of ratchet: ratchets

Origin of ratchet

From French rochet (“bobbin, spindle, ratchet”), from Italian rocchetto (“spool, ratchet”).

Possibly a variant (representing a Southern or specifically Louisianan pronunciation) of wretched. Compare rasslin' for wrestling.

Phrases with ratchet

Words that rhyme with ratchet

Questions about ratchet

What does ratchet mean?: Ratchet means a pawl, click, or detent for holding or propelling a ratchet wheel, or ratch, etc.
What is ratchet in Tamil?: Ratchet in Tamil is ராட்செட், ரட்செட், ராட்செட் செய்ய. See Ratchet meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is ratchet?: Ratchet can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce ratchet?: Ratchet is pronounced /ˈɹæt͡ʃɪt/.
What is the plural of ratchet?: The plural of ratchet is ratchets.

Words near ratchet in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: ratchet (page history and authors); ratchet (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ratchet (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ratchet (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ratchet (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ratchet (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ratchet (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ratchet.ogg.

Cite this entry: “ratchet.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ratchet. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.