racking up

present participle of rack up
1
as in scoring
to gain (as points or runs in a game) as credit towards one's total number of points having racked up a huge number of points in the short program, the figure skater would have to have a disastrous long program in order to miss out on a medal

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of racking up His involvement dwindled following an early-season injury, racking up just 700 minutes in the Premier League last season. Thom Harris, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026 The Sky spent the last week teetering on the edge, racking up a few last-gasp wins to hold off the looming inevitability of their own elimination. Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2026 Since its debut in 2021, EXchange has become one of South Korea’s most popular dating reality series, with Season 1 racking up the highest viewing hours amongst entertainment shows on TVING at the time. Liz Shackleton, Deadline, 24 Aug. 2026 News of the case swiftly went viral across Chinese social media after being made public in recent days, racking up over half a billion views on the X-like platform Weibo alone. Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026 As the cleanup has progressed, Lineage has been racking up thousands of dollars in fines from public health regulators — a drop in the bucket for the global cold-storage juggernaut. Los Angeles Times, 20 Aug. 2026 With debts racking up, Ina loses the family’s bus company, forcing her to shift between jobs, from construction to becoming a bar entertainer, therefore forging an identity through toil. Lé Baltar, IndieWire, 13 Aug. 2026 More recently, a video showcasing her classroom setup for the new school year went viral, racking up more than 600,000 views. Jordan Greene, PEOPLE, 13 Aug. 2026 Seline, a 14- to 17-course epicurean adventure told through seasonal and regional ingredients, innovative techniques and showy plating that makes use of bones, antlers and bowls within bowls, has been racking up accolades in 2026. Carrie Bell, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for racking up
Verb
  • The Sox went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 14 on base while falling in the opener of the four-game series.
    LaMond Pope, Chicago Tribune, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Teoscar Hernández, who had been slumping, hit a two-run home run, and consecutive run-scoring wild pitches from Tigers reliever Tanner Rainey certainly helped.
    Katie Woo, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Andrew Cherng of Panda Restaurant Group and Kitty Lo of Manhattan Hotel Group, both immigrants, exemplify achieving this dream by building extraordinary businesses.
    True Tamplin, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026
  • The school was bustling with a large, high-achieving and diverse student body.
    Austin Horn August 29, Miami Herald, 29 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • All the drama from last week’s showdown with the season-21 designers is resolved by season 22 winning the unconventional-materials challenge.
    Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2026
  • The screenplay placed second in the horror category at the 2025 Slamdance Screenplay Competition, winning Filmmatic’s Horror/Thriller Screenplay Awards, and selected for the 2026 Grey List.
    Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 27 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • But the White House cut its offices and weakened its ability to follow up with cases, as well as slashed funding to research on disparities that people of color face in getting diagnosed and attaining resources for disabilities.
    Claire Sibonney, CBS News, 24 Aug. 2026
  • What came to me was a simple but valuable intuition that healing is not about attaining the grace of God, but about the loving freedom that comes from reflecting God!
    Dilshad Khambatta Eames, Christian Science Monitor, 12 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Summary An 11-year-old Ontario entrepreneur, Ashton Meyer, transformed his $10 bin cleaning side hustle into a viral success, gaining over 110,000 Instagram followers.
    Sarah Hernholm, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Visiting people in their communities and gaining firsthand insight into Norway’s diverse realities became a fundamental part of their work.
    Stefania Conrieri, Vanity Fair, 28 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • In addition to Broadway, the show has played in nine countries across four continents since making its West End debut in 2019.
    Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Despite that footprint, the basic cement-making process has changed relatively little since the material was invented in 1824.
    Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 27 Aug. 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Racking up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/racking%20up. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

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