🪟 To break partly 💊 A drug 🕳️ A narrow opening 😄 To tell a joke 😄 A quick joke 😰 To break down 🔊 To make a noise 🔊 A sharp noise 💻 To hack 🎯 An opportunity 🏆 To surpass ⚗️ To split chemicals 🏅 Excellent

to crack

311 1.0

To break or form a narrow split in a surface

verb
/kræk/

: agrietar

If you keep applying pressure to the egg, it will eventually crack.
crack open
crack a nut
crack the shell

So if our heart's not working properly, crack the chest open, stop it.

Autoplay Next

Examples

Many of their glue joints had cracked, and some of the pieces were scattered.

Academic text (1991)
To my surprise and joy, the paint had cracked, revealing a bizarre pattern.

Academic text (2002)
As you can see, it's beginning to crack there right there.
And so the more we crack, the more we crack open too.
One wrong move can cause it to crack or even shatter.
So then I can sort of crack that along the seam there.
Your column will dry out, it'll crack, and your bands will flow together.
Some of the hardest problems are beginning to crack after a sustained onslaught.

Academic text (2000)
I nodded in silent discouragement, then cracked open the car door and stepped out.

Fiction book (1990)
Be careful with that glass; if you drop it, it will crack on the floor.

Synonyms

to break

vsto crack

∞ 1.0

To change a large bill into smaller bills

involves surface lines or sudden splits without full separation

to snap

vsto crack

167 2.3

Break suddenly and completely, often with a sharp noise

produces sudden surface lines without full separation

to crackle

vsto crack

1 4.2

To become covered with many small breaks in the surface

creates fewer, larger or more sudden lines rather than many tiny ones

to check

vsto crack

1 8.2

Get small cracks on the surface when it dries or gets old

forms sudden lines or splits that are larger or more abrupt

to fissure

vsto crack

1 7.2

To form long narrow cracks in rock or the ground

covers sudden or shallow surface lines as well as narrow ones

Antonyms

to repair

365 1.0

To fix something that is broken or not working

Idioms

to crack the whip

5 6.8

To use firm authority to make people work harder and follow rules

to crack a nut

Informal

7.3

To use much more force or effort than needed to solve a small problem

to crack a skull

NSFW

8.8

To get a serious head injury that breaks the skull

crack kills

NSFW

9.3

A warning slogan saying crack cocaine can kill people

to employ a steam engine to crack a nut

Informal

9.5

To use much more effort or help than needed to do a small task

sledgehammer to crack a nut

Informal

8.5

To use far more force or effort than needed for a small task

Phrasal Verbs

to crack down

63 3.8

To take strong action to stop illegal or wrong behavior

to crack up

Informal

18 3.5

To laugh loudly and without control

to take a crack at

Informal

16 4.9

To try to do something, often for the first time

to crack open

15 2.6

Open something like a bottle or box to get what is inside

to crack the code

14 5.7

To find the secret meaning or solution in something difficult

to crack a joke

Informal

10 2.9

Tell a joke to make people laugh

to crack on

9 6.8

To keep working on something quickly and with energy

to crack up

Informal

4 7.4

To have a nervous breakdown because of too much stress

to fix the crack

1 1.4

To repair a break or hole in a surface so it is smooth and whole again

to crack a problem

3.9

Find a way to solve a hard problem

to crack through

6.4

To work quickly to finish many tasks in a short time

Compounds

crack cocaine

NSFW

20 6.6

A very strong illegal drug people smoke that causes a strong addiction

crack of dawn

Informal

19 3.2

Very early in the morning when the sun first appears

crack addict

NSFW

9 6.1

A person who uses crack cocaine and cannot stop

crack shot

4 6.5

A person who hits targets very accurately with a gun

crack whore

Offensive

2 9.9

An offensive word for a woman who exchanges sex for crack cocaine, often because she is addicted

crack-up

1 7.2

A sudden emotional breakdown or a sudden burst of laughter

quarter crack

Specialized

1 9.9

A vertical crack on the inside of a horse's front hoof that can make the horse limp

crack of doom

Archaic

9.9

The day when God judges everyone and the world ends

crack willow

8.2

A large tree with stiff branches that break easily, often growing by rivers

creamy crack

Slang

9.9

A creamy food that people find very hard to stop eating

ab crack

Jargon

9.6

A visible straight line that appears down the middle of the belly from strong stomach muscles

fatigue crack

Specialized

7.0

A break in metal or hard material caused by repeated stress

plastic crack

Slang

9.9

A strong want to collect plastic toys like action figures or models

sand crack

Specialized

9.8

A vertical crack in a horse's hoof that can cause pain

toe crack

Specialized

9.9

A crack at the front of a horse's hoof that can make the horse limp

How Broken

to shatter

72 2.8

to break

∞ 1.0

to split

513 1.3

to crack

311 1.0

to chip

104 2.3

to scratch

161 1.1

Surface Forms

crack infinitive

cracked past

cracked past participle

cracking present participle

cracks third person singular

Etymology

The verb crack meaning to break or make lines in a surface comes from the idea of a sudden break and the sound that often goes with it. So to 'crack' glass or ice is to make it split or break.