pack rat

Questions about pack rat

What does pack rat mean?

pack rat means "someone who collects things that have been discarded by others". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for pack rat?

Close synonyms include magpie, scavenger, packrat, trade rat, bushytail woodrat. 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 pack rat a common word?

pack rat is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.