quacked; quacking; quacks
: to make the characteristic cry of a duck
1
: charlatan sense 2
Religious quacks on radio and television thinking up new ways to take money from ignorant listeners and incidentally from legitimate churches.—
Andrew A. Rooney
Andrew A. Rooney2
: an ignorant, misinformed, or dishonest practitioner of medicine
No doubt these misunderstandings and dashed hopes have driven many cancer patients and their families into the arms of quacks.—Haydn Bush
Haydn BushSynonyms
Examples of quack in a Sentence
Noun (2)
don't bother to see that guy, as I've heard he's a quack with no actual training
Recent Examples on the Web
Sushmita Pathak, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 Sep. 2024
Ducks keep quacking For years, the pipeline from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana to USC was well known and seemingly uninterrupted.
—Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 16 Aug. 2024
Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2024
Witness the presidential campaign of anti-vaccine crackpot Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the dangerous attack on medical science by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his quack henchman, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2024
Dan Reiter, Foreign Affairs, 7 May 2020
This is where quack pseudoscience meets quasi-religious beliefs about how our bodies work, and suspicion of any chemical substance (whether in vaccines, pills, or lotions) is addressed by the pre-modern wisdom of the ages.
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 4 July 2023
See all Example Sentences for quack 
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of
Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback
about these examples.
Verb
The birds scurry between the legs of an older goat, quacking nonstop.
—Sushmita Pathak, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 Sep. 2024
Ducks keep quacking For years, the pipeline from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana to USC was well known and seemingly uninterrupted.
—Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 16 Aug. 2024
Noun
Her favorite recording reminded me of a duck’s quack.
—Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2024
Witness the presidential campaign of anti-vaccine crackpot Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the dangerous attack on medical science by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his quack henchman, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2024
Adjective
And open channels of information have identified and exposed fake news, conspiracy theories, and quack cures, limiting their domination of public discourse on the coronavirus.
—Dan Reiter, Foreign Affairs, 7 May 2020
This is where quack pseudoscience meets quasi-religious beliefs about how our bodies work, and suspicion of any chemical substance (whether in vaccines, pills, or lotions) is addressed by the pre-modern wisdom of the ages.
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 4 July 2023
See all Example Sentences for quack
Articles Related to quack
Dictionary Entries Near quack
Cite this Entry
“Quack.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quack. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
quack
1 of 4 noun
: the cry of a duck
also
: a sound resembling this cry
quack
2 of 4 verb
: to make a quack
quack
3 of 4 noun
: a person who makes false claims to special knowledge or ability
especially
: one who pretends to have medical skill
quack
4 of 4 adjective
: of, relating to, or used by a person who is a quack
quack medicines
Etymology
Noun
a word created to imitate the sound made by a duck
Noun
a shortened form of earlier quacksalver "a person who pretends to have medical skill"; of Dutch origin
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share