Meanings
present singular third person racks one's brain · participle present racking one's brain · participle past racked one's brain · past racked one's brain · alternative rack one's brains · alternative wrack one's brain · alternative wrack one's brains
- figurativelyTo struggle to think of or remember something.
I have been racking my brain all day trying to think of a birthday present for her.
1 more example
Let’s face it – math isn’t for everyone. If you’re done racking your brains over a question based on quadratic equations, differential calculus, or even lengthy word problems, and can’t for the life of you figure out what’s what, then perhaps it’s time you let ChatGPT take up the role of a home tutor.
2023 January 19, Zohaib Ahmed, “Here’s how ChatGPT can help you deal with boring tasks so you can focus on things that matter”, in The Indian Express
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Combination of rack (“medieval torture method”), and brain, thus meaning “to cause the mind extreme discomfort”. Variants include rack one's wit (1583) and rack one's memory, as well as cudgel one's brain / cudgel one's brains.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan escalfar-se el cap
- escalfar-se el capstruggle to think of something
Chinese Mandarin 絞盡腦汁 /绞尽脑汁
- 絞盡腦汁 /绞尽脑汁 (jiǎojìn nǎozhī)struggle to think of something
Czech lámat si hlavu
- lámat si hlavustruggle to think of something
Dutch zich suf piekeren
- zich suf piekerenstruggle to think of something
Esperanto cerbumi
- cerbumistruggle to think of something
Finnish miettiä päänsä puhki
- miettiä päänsä puhkistruggle to think of something
French se creuser la tête, se creuser les méninges
- se creuser la têtestruggle to think of something
- se creuser les méningesstruggle to think of something
- se creuser la cervellestruggle to think of something
- se casser la têtestruggle to think of something
German sich den Kopf zerbrechen
- sich den Kopf zerbrechenstruggle to think of something
Hungarian töri a fejét
- töri a fejétstruggle to think of something
Icelandic brjóta heilann
- brjóta heilannstruggle to think of something
Italian scervellarsi, arrovellarsi
- scervellarsistruggle to think of something
- arrovellarsistruggle to think of something
- lambiccarsi il cervellostruggle to think of something
- spremersi le meningistruggle to think of something
Japanese 脳漿を絞る
- 脳漿を絞る (nōshō o shiboru)struggle to think of something
Polish łamać sobie głowę, zachodzić w głowę
- łamać sobie głowęstruggle to think of something
- zachodzić w głowęstruggle to think of something
Portuguese quebrar a cabeça
- quebrar a cabeçastruggle to think of something
Russian лома́ть го́лову
- лома́ть го́лову (lomátʹ gólovu)struggle to think of something
Spanish devanarse los sesos, romperse la cabeza
- devanarse los sesosstruggle to think of something
- romperse la cabezastruggle to think of something
Turkish kafa patlatmak
- kafa patlatmakstruggle to think of something
Welsh crafu'ch pen
- crafu'ch penstruggle to think of something
Cite this entry
rack one's brain. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rack%20one's%20brain
“rack one's brain.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rack%20one's%20brain. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rack one's brain,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rack%20one's%20brain.
Source: rack one's brain on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.