idiom · neutral
rack one's brains
/ræk wʌnz breɪnz/RACK·one's·BRAINS
speakingtask2
to think very hard in order to remember something or find a solution
Examples
“I racked my brains but couldn't remember her name.”
“We racked our brains for an hour trying to solve the problem.”
“He racked his brains to come up with a good excuse.”
Band 8 sentence
“I racked my brains for a plausible explanation, but nothing I thought of fit the evidence.”
Collocations
- rack one's brains for an answer
- rack one's brains to remember
Common mistakes
rack my brain→rack my brains
rack the brains→rack one's brains
Say it for a higher band
5think hard→6try to remember→7+rack one's brains
Synonyms
think hard
Easily confused
brainstorm
“We set aside an hour to brainstorm solutions to the project.”
Related words
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In Study
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