ratchet

CEFRC1

/ˈɹæt͡ʃɪt/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
noun
A tool or device that allows movement in one direction only.
02
noun
Extra detail
A mechanism composed of a ratchet wheel, or ratch and pawl.

Examples

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Deep Dive

Extra meanings

A ratchet wrench.
A pawl, click, or detent for holding or propelling a ratchet wheel, or ratch, etc.
A mechanism for generating a new unique key for each message by moving forward in a sequence.

In context

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.
This holddown ratchets, which allows the person loading the trailer to cinch down the straps.

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

The word in print, with each source given in full.

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
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
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
Yugoslavia’s President, Slobodan Milosevic, has rejected all efforts at meaningful diplomacy and, in violation of his own previous commitments, has ratcheted up his military campaign against the innocent civilians of Kosovo.
1999 March 25, “Air Campaign Against Yugoslavia”, in The New York Times, New York
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

Looking a word up is the easy part. LexUp remembers which words you have met and brings them back at the point you were about to forget them.

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