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Glite Dictionary
😂 To laugh hard 😵 To break down
to crack up

to crack up

4 7.4
To have a nervous breakdown because of too much stress
  • phrasal verb
  • /kræk ʌp/
  • Informal
translation icon : venirse abajo
  • I honestly think suppressing my emotions is all that keeps me from completely cracking up.
  • start to crack up
  • think you're cracking up

But being strange, you know, and being straight, not cracking up, was the hardest thing.

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Examples

Synonyms

to fall apart
vsto crack up
  • Informal
193 4.2

To lose control of your feelings because of strong stress or sadness

is focused on breakdown from pressure rather than specific traumatic causes
to crack
vsto crack up
145 6.5

To lose control of your emotions under strong pressure

is the same meaning but used as a longer phrase
to break down
vsto crack up
111 3.9

To lose control of your feelings and cry or collapse

focuses on mental collapse from stress rather than physical collapse
to break up
vsto crack up
  • Informal
38 5.0

Become unable to cope because of strong stress or emotion

is used for collapse from pressure rather than long lasting decline

Antonyms

to keep one's cool
  • Informal
30 3.4

Stay calm and control your feelings when things are hard

to keep it together
  • Informal
27 5.4

To stay calm and control your feelings in a difficult situation

How Mentally Stable

to cope
272 2.9
to struggle
851 2.8
to crack up
  • Informal
4 7.4
to break down
111 3.9

Surface Forms

crack up infinitive
cracking up present participle
cracks up third person singular
cracked up past
cracked up past participle

Morphology

crack + up

The meaning 'to suffer a mental or emotional breakdown' is directly built from 'crack' (to give way emotionally) with the particle 'up' providing a predictable resultative/completive nuance. This verb+particle pattern is common and the core meaning is present in the verb, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Crack up comes from the image of something under too much pressure that begins to crack and fall apart. The verb crack means 'to break' and with up it gives the idea of suddenly breaking down, so the phrase means 'to suffer a mental or emotional breakdown'.