Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use rattle in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Rattle means to create a rattling sound by shaking or striking. Example: “Rattle the can of cat treats if you need to find Fluffy.”

Examples of rattle by meaning

verbTo create a rattling sound by shaking or striking.

  • to rattle a chain
  • Rattle the can of cat treats if you need to find Fluffy.
  • It was a deflating end to the drama for the hosts and they appeared ruffled, with Bolton going close to a leveller when Johan Elmander rattled the bar with a header from Matt Taylor’s cross.2011 February 5, Michael Kevin Darling, “Tottenham 2 - 1 Bolton”, in BBC

verbTo scare, startle, unsettle, or unnerve.

  • “But if you haven’t dropped a parcel over the race,” I said, “why are you looking so rattled?”1923 May 17, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “(please specify the page)”, in The Inimitable Jeeves, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC
  • That United were rattled, mentally as well as at times physically – legitimately so – was beyond question.2014 August 26, Richard Rae, “Manchester United humbled by MK Dons after Will Grigg hits double”, in The Guardian
  • But the discovery of a double agent has rattled German political circles.2023 February 17, Erika Solomon, Christopher F. Schuetze, Julian E. Barnes, “A Russian Mole in Germany Sows Suspicions at Home, and...

verbTo make a rattling noise; to make noise by or from shaking.

  • I wish the dashboard in my car would quit rattling.

verbTo drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering.

  • We rattled along for a couple of miles.

verbTo make a clatter with one's voice; to talk rapidly and idly; often with on or away.

  • She rattled on for an hour.

nounThe set of rings at the end of a rattlesnake's tail which produce a rattling sound.

  • The rattle of the rattlesnake is composed of the hardened terminal scales, loosened in succession, but not cast off, and modified in form so as to make a series of loose, hollow joints.
  • The majority of snakes were killed on the spot, as a snaker only had to produce the rattles to collect the bounty.2017, Kenny Salwey, J. Scott Bestul, The Last River Rat: Kenny Salwey's Life in the Wild

nounA rapid succession of percussive sounds, as made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another.

  • I wish they would fix the rattle under my dashboard.
  • The rattle of a drum.1902, Arthur M. Winfield, The Rover Boys in the Mountains, Chapter 4
  • Nor was this less ominous than the rattle of musketry, for it suggested but a single solution to the little band of rescuers—that the illy garrisoned village had already succumbed to the onslaught of a superior force.1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 133

More sentences with rattle

  • Nobody has corrected the problem yet, so it's time to rattle their cage.From the entry rattle someone's cage
  • If you really want to rattle his cage, ask him about his family.From the entry rattle someone's cage
  • When I suggested it, he promptly rattled off a dozen reasons that it wouldn't work.From the entry rattle off
  • The children rattled through their prayers and hopped into bed.From the entry rattle through
  • There are rattles aplenty - this train is old, tired, and needs a refresh.2026 January 7, 'Mystery Shopper', “Cornish cream - without the jams?”, in RAIL, number 1052, page 47. From the entry refresh
  • Bruhat rattled off a head-spinning 29 correctly spelled words in 90 seconds, including heautophany, nachschläge and puszta.2024 May 30, Aimee Ortiz and Alexandra E. Petri, “From 74th Place to Spelling Champion: One Boy’s Journey to Win the Scripps Bee”, in The…. From the entry correctly
  • When they hit the bottom, I heard a small rattle and ting noise.2016 October 28, Nathan J. Gregory, Lost Shadows: A Novel, Nathan J. Gregory. From the entry unfitting
  • Liz's little car rattled skiddily round the corner, going too fast, as usual.2011, Alice Moss, Mortal Kiss. From the entry skiddily
  • Gracie's handful of treasures hit the plastic bottom with a hollow rattle.2011, Susan Andersen, Exposure. From the entry lellow
  • If you were in the rattle too often, you would be labeled a troublemaker.2005, Charles Gidley Wheeler, Jannaway's Mutiny. From the entry in the rattle
  • Rattle certainly did Elgar no favours by eliminating him entirely from his 20th Century series.2003 August 24, deac...@yahoo.com, “ELGAR Symphony No.2 - GSOTC?”, in rec.music.classical.recordings (Usenet), retrieved 03 May 2022. From the entry snobism
  • That is even if they bother to sabre rattle, which I am beginning to doubt.2000, Paul Henke, Mayhem, page 119. From the entry sabre rattle
  • The streets of Shanghai rattled with revolutionary tremors as Chiang's armies came closer and closer.1983, Harrison E. Salisbury, China: 100 Years of Revolution, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 90. From the entry Kashing
  • Just because the Soviets rattle sabres is no reason why we should rattle sabres.1961, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations, Nominations of W. Averell Harriman, Frank M. Coffin, Philip M.…. From the entry rattle sabres
  • And what Peter had imagined to be his snores had really been the lonesome death rattle.1950, Jack Kerouac, The Town and the City, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, published 2001, →ISBN, page 476. From the entry death rattle
  • All over the room, and a chimney-pot burst and rattled down the tiles into a prambulator.1925 July, Alfred Edgar Coppard, “The Field of Mustard”, in The Dial, volume 79, page 52. From the entry rumbullion
  • Barnet turned it under Jacob's window, and it creaked—creaked, and rattled across the lawn and creaked again.1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter II, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC…. From the entry want
  • The waiter rattled off a list, beginning with Strega and ending with cherry brandy.1922, DH Lawrence, Aaron's Rod. From the entry Strega
  • Horowitz rattled out a paper, her near-sighted eyes traveling back and forth across the page.1918, Fannie Hurst, Gaslight Sonatas. From the entry unthumbed
  • "The charge?" Chalmers rattled off a list of offenses, a few of which turned Prance's already defeated mood more solemn.2022, Peter Farris, The Devil Himself: A Novel, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN. From the entry you can beat the rap, but you can't beat the ride
  • The problems turned out to be minor – just a few rounding errors – but the experience left Kauff feeling rattled.2017 February 1, Stephen Buranyi, “The high-tech war on science fraud”, in The Guardian. From the entry rounding error
  • The look he gave the elvess rattled me.2017 July 13, Jeremy Forsyth, chapter 2, in The Evening Tide (Sun, Moon, Sand and Star; 1), Amazon Digital Services, →ISBN. From the entry elvess
  • I sat on the counter with Anwar, our nervous legs kicking the cheap MDF panels until they rattled.2016, Zadie Smith, Swing Time, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 326. From the entry MDF
  • She was a feminist, in her own way, but didn't rattle a sabre or shove her beliefs down anyone's throat.2016, Kyle C. Fitzharris, Skip Shot: A Novel. From the entry rattle a sabre
  • It's not up to you to declare war on Afghanistan of course but get permission to rattle a sabre!'2012, Barbara Cleverly, The Damascened Blade. From the entry rattle a sabre
  • Ellison began to rattle off the list of cliques as he pointed to each table with his sandwich.2011, Madison Adler, The Glass Wall, Bento Box Books, →ISBN, page 55. From the entry World of Warcrafter

Meaning of rattle

  1. verb To create a rattling sound by shaking or striking.
  2. verb To scare, startle, unsettle, or unnerve.
  3. verb To make a rattling noise; to make noise by or from shaking.

Full definition of rattle

Questions about rattle in a sentence

How do you use rattle in a sentence?
Rattle is used as a verb and noun. For example: “Rattle the can of cat treats if you need to find Fluffy.”
What is a short sentence with rattle?
“to rattle a chain”
What does rattle mean?
Rattle means to create a rattling sound by shaking or striking.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rattle (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use rattle in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/rattle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.