collapse or destruction (esp in the phrase wrack and ruin)
2.
something destroyed or a remnant of such
verb
3. a variant spelling of rack1
▶ USAGE The use of the spelling wrack rather than rack in sentences such as she was wracked by grief or the country was wracked by civil war is very common but is thought by many people to be incorrect
Word origin
Old English wræc persecution, misery; related to Gothic wraka, Old Norse rāk. Compare wreck, wretch
wrack in British English2
(ræk)
noun
1.
seaweed or other marine vegetation that is floating in the sea or has been cast ashore
2.
any of various seaweeds of the genus Fucus, such as F. serratus (serrated wrack)
3. literary or dialect
a.
a wreck or piece of wreckage
b.
a remnant or fragment of something destroyed
Word origin
C14 (in the sense: a wrecked ship, wreckage, hence later applied to marine vegetationwashed ashore): perhaps from Middle Dutch wrak wreckage; the term corresponds to Old English wræcwrack1
wrack in American English1
(ræk)
noun
1.
destruction; ruin
see also rack3
2.
a wrecked ship
3.
a.
wreckage
b.
a fragment of something that has been destroyed
4.
seaweed or other marine plant life cast up on shore
verb transitive, verb intransitive
5. Archaic
to wreck or be wrecked
Word origin
ME wrak, damage, wrecked ship < MDu wrak, a wreck, wrecked ship; akin to OE wræc, misery, something driven (< wrecan, to wreak)
wrack in American English2
(ræk)
verb transitive
rack1
; esp.,
a.
to subject to extreme mental or physical suffering; torture
b.
to disturb violently; convulse
Word origin
altered (infl. by wrack1) < rack1
wrack in American English3
(ræk)
noun
a rack of clouds or other vapor
Word origin
altered < rack4
Examples of 'wrack' in a sentence
wrack
They were off the Balk -- the reef that at low water ran covered in oar wrack out towards the Cages.