# ratcheting

Pronunciation: say "RACH-it-ing" /ˈɹæt͡ʃɪtɪŋ/

## Verb

1. Present participle and gerund of ratchet. — present participle and gerund of ratchet
   - Simple: Present participle and gerund of ratchet. Use it after "is" or "are", or as the name of the action.
   - _Investors watched mortgage rates ratcheting upward month after month._
   - _Both campaigns kept ratcheting up the rhetoric ahead of the vote._

## Noun

2. The act of making something increase or decrease by steps, or a single instance of it.
   - Simple: Making something go up or down in small steps, or one time it happens.
   - _Economists warned that the steady ratcheting of interest rates would slow home sales._
   - _Repeated ratchetings of the security rules frustrated travelers._
3. A conjurer's trick in which a metal object is bent back and forth beforehand to cause metal fatigue, so that it can later be broken by rubbing.
   - Simple: A magic trick where metal is bent back and forth in secret so it breaks later when rubbed.
   - _The skeptic showed that the famous spoon-breaking act depended on ratcheting done before the show._
   - _Ratcheting lets a performer snap a key with what looks like a gentle stroke of the finger._

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ratcheting (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).