knock

1. 1.

   the sound of knocking (as on a door or in an engine or bearing)

   “the knocking grew louder”

   Synonymsknocking

   Broadersound
2. 2.

   negative criticism

   Synonymsroast

   Broadercriticism
3. 3.

   a vigorous blow

   “the sudden knock floored him”

   “he took a bash right in his face”

   “he got a bang on the head”

   Synonymsbashbangsmashbelt

   Broaderblow
4. 4.

   a bad experience

   “the school of hard knocks”

   Broadermisfortune
5. 5.

   the act of hitting vigorously

   “he gave the table a whack”

   Synonymsbeltrapwhackwhang

   Broaderblow

Other forms of knock

plural

knocks·

past tense

knocked·

present participle

knocking·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about knock

What does knock mean?

knock means "deliver a sharp blow or push". That is the primary sense; the word has 11 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in knock?

knock has 1 syllable: knock. In IPA it is /ˈnɑk/.

What is another word for knock?

Close synonyms include strike hard, bump, tap, rap, pink. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is knock a common word?

knock is banded "Core" — among the few thousand words that carry most english. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with knock?

2 words rhyme with knock. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.