ratchet

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.

That’s because it gives bankers, responsible for pricing a transaction, more flexibility to ratchet down the credit spread—the amount a company pays above a benchmark—on each segment.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

But a third factor is entangled in this equation: access to food and water, both of which become more difficult to acquire as wars spread and global temperatures ratchet upward.

From Salon • Mar. 17, 2026

Likewise, $200 oil would ratchet up the probability of a global recession—40% to 60%—and global stock markets would fall 15% to 30% from their highs.

From Barron's • Mar. 16, 2026

And also, to Judge McKeown’s point: Won’t this one-way ratchet just completely collapse public confidence in the judiciary?

From Slate • Mar. 13, 2026

Leonardo’s sketch is already implicitly drawn to scale, with a detail of the ratchet mechanism shown at a higher level of magnification.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton