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Glite Dictionary
to crack through

to crack through

6.4
To work quickly to finish many tasks in a short time
  • phrasal verb
  • US
translation icon : terminar rápidamente
  • We have a lot to do, so let's crack through these reports as quickly as possible.

Examples

  • She can crack through her assignments quickly!

  • If we crack through this work now, we can finish early and relax.

  • She managed to crack through all her assignments before the weekend.

  • Can you crack through this project by Friday?

  • She managed to crack through her assignments before the deadline.

  • If we work together, we can crack through this project in no time.

  • He quickly cracked through the tasks on his to-do list.

Synonyms

to breeze through
vsto crack through
  • Informal
5 3.6

To succeed at something quickly and easily

means instead to work fast but with emphasis on ease not pressure
to make quick work of
vsto crack through
  • Informal
4 3.9

Finish a task quickly and well

works quickly and efficiently under short time limits or pressure
to sweep through
vsto crack through
2 4.1

To finish something quickly and with little effort

is about fast, efficient work under pressure rather than easy success
to whip through
vsto crack through
  • Informal
2 4.9

To do something quickly and well

focuses on fast, efficient work often under tight time pressure

Antonyms

to procrastinate
26 6.5

To delay doing something you should do because you avoid it

to dawdle
17 5.0

Move or act slowly and waste time, causing delay

How Fast

to power through
  • Informal
8 4.2
to crack through
  • US
6.4
steadily
129 2.1
to dawdle
17 5.0

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

crack + through

The sense of completion is derivable from 'through' and 'crack' conveys breaking/overcoming, so a learner could infer a general meaning of getting through tasks; however the specific nuance of working quickly and efficiently (especially under pressure) is a metaphorical extension and not fully predictable from the parts. The verb+through pattern provides partial transparency but requires exposure to confirm the exact sense.

Etymology

Crack through may come from the image of breaking a hard thing to get to the other side: you crack ice or a shell and go through it quickly, making a clear path. So it now means to make fast progress or 'work quickly' to finish a task.