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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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

Word History

Etymology

imitative

First Known Use

1681, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of rat-a-tat was in 1681

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 Dec. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!