rat-a-tat
noun
variants
or rat-a-tat-tat
: a rapid succession of knocking, tapping, or cracking sounds
Examples of rat-a-tat in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The rat-a-tat back and forth when Sonny gives Yancy the gig, leading up to the reveal that the dude died on duty, is hilarious.
—
Erin Qualey, Vulture, 14 Aug. 2024
And then once Vince became super interested, there is not a comedy writer, actor, comedian of a certain age that wasn’t influenced by the way that Vince Vaughn does the rat-a-tat kind of comedy.
—Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 9 Oct. 2024
Any conversation about Din Tai Fung, the Taiwanese restaurant that opened this summer in a sunken plaza near Times Square, quickly descends into a numerical rat-a-tat.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2024
There are boys, men, grandparents, and local color, but Lorelei and Rory Gilmore are the twin suns of this solar system—and their love, humor, and rat-a-tat dialogue delight.
—John Ortved, Vogue, 29 June 2024
Sorkin's high-IQ, rat-a-tat cocktail of noble sentiment, scalpel-sharp satire, and sports-as-a-metaphor-for-life drama was fueled by an innate love of language and a palpable fondness for the people who craft it for a living.
—Ew Staff, EW.com, 8 Jan. 2024
What surprised climate scientists wasn’t the number of storms, but their strength and rat-a-tat frequency.
—Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 13 Oct. 2023
Just the rat-a-tat of three Caterpillar excavators gnawing through concrete signaled the beginning of the largest dam removal project in the history of the country, and perhaps the world.
—Melina Mara, Washington Post, 14 Dec. 2023
But California’s governor was utterly slavish in the role of dutiful party soldier, repeatedly extolling Biden’s performance with a rat-a-tat of statistics — a Newsom hallmark — on falling inflation, rising employment and other favorable barometers.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2023
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of
Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback
about these examples.
Erin Qualey, Vulture, 14 Aug. 2024
And then once Vince became super interested, there is not a comedy writer, actor, comedian of a certain age that wasn’t influenced by the way that Vince Vaughn does the rat-a-tat kind of comedy.
—Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 9 Oct. 2024
Any conversation about Din Tai Fung, the Taiwanese restaurant that opened this summer in a sunken plaza near Times Square, quickly descends into a numerical rat-a-tat.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2024
There are boys, men, grandparents, and local color, but Lorelei and Rory Gilmore are the twin suns of this solar system—and their love, humor, and rat-a-tat dialogue delight.
—John Ortved, Vogue, 29 June 2024
Sorkin's high-IQ, rat-a-tat cocktail of noble sentiment, scalpel-sharp satire, and sports-as-a-metaphor-for-life drama was fueled by an innate love of language and a palpable fondness for the people who craft it for a living.
—Ew Staff, EW.com, 8 Jan. 2024
What surprised climate scientists wasn’t the number of storms, but their strength and rat-a-tat frequency.
—Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 13 Oct. 2023
Just the rat-a-tat of three Caterpillar excavators gnawing through concrete signaled the beginning of the largest dam removal project in the history of the country, and perhaps the world.
—Melina Mara, Washington Post, 14 Dec. 2023
But California’s governor was utterly slavish in the role of dutiful party soldier, repeatedly extolling Biden’s performance with a rat-a-tat of statistics — a Newsom hallmark — on falling inflation, rising employment and other favorable barometers.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2023
Dictionary Entries Near rat-a-tat
Cite this Entry
“Rat-a-tat.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rat-a-tat. Accessed 18 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share