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

2. the harsh sound of a duck

  Familiarity information: QUACK used as a noun is rare.

• QUACK (adjective)
  The adjective QUACK has 1 sense:

1. medically unqualified

  Familiarity information: QUACK used as an adjective is very rare.

• QUACK (verb)
  The verb QUACK has 2 senses:

1. utter quacking noises

2. act as a medical quack or a charlatan

  Familiarity information: QUACK used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• QUACK (noun)

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)

• QUACK (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Medically unqualified

Context example:

a quack doctor

Similar:

unqualified (not meeting the proper standards and requirements and training)

• QUACK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they quack    ... he / she / it quacks   
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)