rat-a-tat

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“People were amazed. They could see these top stars singing and dancing. They could hear the rat-a-tat of the guns. And sound also made for a tremendous amount of creativity in movie making.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 15, 2026

Inspired by US vocal harmony groups such as En Vogue and SWV, Mis-Teeq cleverly incorporated garage and hip-hop to their sound, with Alesha Dixon's rat-a-tat MC'ing setting them apart from more their pop rivals.

From BBC • Nov. 7, 2025

You could hear her before you could see her: a throaty, rat-a-tat laugh — ha-ha-ha-ha — drifting through the cool canyon air.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 20, 2024

The film, in its first minutes, prefers the latter, opening with a rat-a-tat montage of her many successes: author, linguist, Phi Beta Kappa scholar.

From New York Times • Nov. 2, 2023

She turned her head to find the woodpecker that was making that determined rat-a-tat.

From "Stella by Starlight" by Sharon M. Draper