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Glite Dictionary
🔊 To make sharp sounds 🔊 A sharp sound 🪨 To form small cracks 🪨 Fine cracks 🪨 With fine cracks
to crackle

to crackle

1 4.2
To become covered with many small breaks in the surface
  • verb
  • /ˈkrækəl/
translation icon : agrietarse
  • The park around City Hall is quite silent; leaves swish and crackle with each footstep.
  • crackled surface
  • crackled glaze
  • crackled leather

Examples

  • The old paint on the wall began to crackle as the heat from the fireplace dried it out.

  • With the sun so far away, the earth darkened and the seas began to crackle and freeze.

  • For a few seconds, Frank could hear nothing but the fire crackling.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Under her feet, the ancient wood crackled and burned.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • A moment later, the air crackled and the sky took on a deeper hue.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Frost crackled at the corners of his mouth as he smiled thinly and said, "Well."

    Fiction book (1999)

  • As the ice melted in the sun, I could hear it crackle and break apart into smaller pieces.

  • The ceramic vase was beautiful, but the glaze started to crackle over time, adding character to its appearance.

Synonyms

to check
vsto crackle
1 8.2

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

is about widespread network covering a surface rather than isolated splits
to fissure
vsto crackle
1 7.2

To form long narrow cracks in rock or the ground

is milder, meaning many tiny surface lines rather than deep breaks
to craze
vsto crackle
  • Specialized
1 8.4

To develop a network of small cracks on a ceramic or painted surface

is used more generally for any surface covered with many small cracks

Idioms

snap, crackle and pop
6.5

Short sharp crackling sounds like cereal in a bowl

Compounds

crackle china
9.1

Porcelain with a shiny finish that shows a fine pattern of lines made on purpose

How Damaged

to shatter
72 2.8
to crackle
1 4.2
to crack
311 1.0
to chip
104 2.3
to scratch
161 1.1

Surface Forms

crackle infinitive
crackled past
crackled past participle
crackling present participle
crackles third person singular

Morphology

crackle = crack (transparent) = crack + le

The meaning (to become covered with small cracks) is directly related to the base 'crack' with the iterative/resultative sense added by '-le'.

Etymology

Crackle started from the sound word crack ('to break with a sharp noise') and was also used for the small breaks you see, so to crackle a surface is to become covered with many tiny cracks.