English Dictionary |
QUACK
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
IPA (US): |
Dictionary entry overview: What does quack mean?
• QUACK (noun)
The noun QUACK has 2 senses:
1. an untrained person who pretends to be a physician and who dispenses medical advice
Familiarity information: QUACK used as a noun is rare.
• QUACK (adjective)
The adjective QUACK has 1 sense:
Familiarity information: QUACK used as an adjective is very rare.
• QUACK (verb)
The verb QUACK has 2 senses:
2. act as a medical quack or a charlatan
Familiarity information: QUACK used as a verb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
An untrained person who pretends to be a physician and who dispenses medical advice
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("quack" is a kind of...):
doc; doctor; Dr.; MD; medico; physician (a licensed medical practitioner)
charlatan; mountebank (a flamboyant deceiver; one who attracts customers with tricks or jokes)
Derivation:
quack (act as a medical quack or a charlatan)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The harsh sound of a duck
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural events
Hypernyms ("quack" is a kind of...):
sound (the sudden occurrence of an audible event)
Derivation:
quack (utter quacking noises)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Medically unqualified
Context example:
a quack doctor
Similar:
unqualified (not meeting the proper standards and requirements and training)
Conjugation: |
Past simple: quacked
Past participle: quacked
-ing form: quacking
Sense 1
Meaning:
Utter quacking noises
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Context example:
The ducks quacked
Hypernyms (to "quack" is one way to...):
emit; let loose; let out; utter (express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words))
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Derivation:
quack (the harsh sound of a duck)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Act as a medical quack or a charlatan
Classified under:
Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care
Hypernyms (to "quack" is one way to...):
act; behave; do (behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior; conduct or comport oneself)
Domain category:
medicine; practice of medicine (the learned profession that is mastered by graduate training in a medical school and that is devoted to preventing or alleviating or curing diseases and injuries)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Derivation:
quack (an untrained person who pretends to be a physician and who dispenses medical advice)
quackery (medical practice and advice based on observation and experience in ignorance of scientific findings)
Context examples
While this was passing, a duck came quacking up and cried out, You thieving vagabonds, what business have you in my grounds?
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
All at once there began to go a sort of bustle among the bulrushes; a wild duck flew up with a quack, another followed, and soon over the whole surface of the marsh a great cloud of birds hung screaming and circling in the air.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
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