Meaning & use
racket
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A light bat with a round or oval head crossed by tight strings, used to hit a ball in games such as tennis.
Grammar: Count it: a racket, two rackets; name the game before it, as in a tennis racket.
Patterns
- a tennis/squash/badminton racket
- hit something with a racket
- swing a racket
She keeps her tennis racket by the door so she can practice after work.
He bought a smaller racket because the adult one felt too heavy.
The player swung the racket too late and missed the ball.
nouncountableinformal
A loud, unpleasant noise that continues and annoys people.
Grammar: Usually take a/an: make a racket, not make racket; the plural can mean repeated noisy disturbances.
Patterns
- make/kick up a racket
- stop that racket
- a terrible racket
The construction outside started again and made a terrible racket.
Please stop that racket; the baby has just fallen asleep.
We could hear the racket from the street below our window.
nouncountableinformaldisapproving
A dishonest plan or organized activity that makes money by cheating, threatening, or overcharging people.
Grammar: Often follows run or operate: run a racket; use it for a scheme, not one small lie.
Patterns
- run a racket
- a protection racket
- a charity/tax racket
Police said the gang ran a racket selling fake concert tickets.
The so-called charity was just a racket to collect donations.
He refused to pay into the local protection racket.
Word forms
| plural | rackets |
|---|
Common combinations
- tennis racket
- She restrung her old tennis racket before the tournament.
- string a racket
- The shop can string a racket while you wait.
- kick up a racket
- The children kicked up a racket during the party.
- run a racket
- Investigators believe several companies ran a rebate racket.
- protection racket
- The store owner reported the protection racket to the police.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bat
- A bat is usually solid and used in sports such as baseball or cricket; a tennis racket has strings.
- din
- Din suggests many overlapping loud sounds, while racket can be one sharp or continuing disturbance.
- scam
- A scam is one trick to cheat someone; racket suggests an organized or repeated money-making scheme.
Word family
- racketeer noun
- A person who runs an illegal money-making scheme.
- racketeering noun
- The crime of organizing dishonest schemes to make money.
- rackety adjective
- Noisy and shaky; uncommon outside literary descriptions.
Commonly confused: racket or racquet? racket or rocket?
racket vs racquet
This spelling is common in British English for the sports equipment only; use racket for noise or crime in all varieties.
racket vs rocket
Rocket sounds similar but means a vehicle or firework that travels through the air.
Practice
When the band began tuning very loudly, the librarian shouted, “Stop that ___!”
Choose one answer.
Here racket means a loud, unpleasant noise, and “stop that racket” is a natural phrase. Racquet is only the sports spelling; silence is the opposite idea; a trumpet could make sound but does not name the disturbance.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “racket”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.