crack
verb/kræk/
/kræk/
Verb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they crack | /kræk/ /kræk/ |
| he / she / it cracks | /kræks/ /kræks/ |
| past simple cracked | /krækt/ /krækt/ |
| past participle cracked | /krækt/ /krækt/ |
| -ing form cracking | /ˈkrækɪŋ/ /ˈkrækɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive, transitive] to break without dividing into separate parts; to break something in this way
- The ice cracked as I stepped onto it.
- crack something He has cracked a bone in his arm.
Extra ExamplesTopics Physics and chemistryb2- The dish had cracked quite badly.
- The leather/mud/paint/plaster had cracked.
- [intransitive, transitive] to break open or into pieces; to break something in this way
- + adv./prep. A chunk of the cliff had cracked off in a storm.
- (figurative) His face cracked into a smile.
- crack something to crack a nut
- crack something + adv./prep. She cracked an egg into the pan.
- [transitive] crack something/somebody (on/against something) to hit something/somebody in a short hard manner
- I cracked my head on the low ceiling.
- He cracked me on the head with a ruler.
Extra Examples- He stood up suddenly, cracking his head on the low ceiling.
- As I leapt up, I cracked my skull on a beam and passed out.
- [intransitive, transitive] to make a sharp sound; to make something do this
- A shot cracked across the ridge.
- [no passive] crack something He cracked his whip and galloped away.
- [intransitive] if your voice cracks, it changes in depth, volume, etc. suddenly and in a way that you cannot control
- In a voice cracking with emotion, he told us of his son's death.
- [intransitive] to no longer be able to function normally because of pressure
- Things are terrible at work and people are cracking under the strain.
- They questioned him for days before he cracked.
- The old institutions are cracking.
Extra Examples- She is under a lot of pressure but is showing no signs of cracking.
- The stresses of his job became too great and he finally cracked.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- completely
- finally
- up
- …
- crack under the pressure
- crack under the strain
- show signs of cracking
- …
- hard
- on
- [transitive] crack something to find the solution to a problem, etc; to find the way to do something difficult
- to crack the enemy’s code
- (informal) After a year in this job I think I've got it cracked!
Extra Examples- ‘How's the investigation going?’ ‘I think we've cracked it.’
- A team of experts finally cracked the code.
- We need some more solid evidence if we're going to crack the case.
- [transitive] crack something to find a way of stopping or defeating a criminal or an enemy
- Police have cracked a major drugs ring.
- [transitive] crack (open) a bottle (informal) to open a bottle, especially of wine, and drink it
- [transitive] crack a joke (informal) to tell a joke
break
hit
make sound
of voice
under pressure
find solution
stop somebody/something
open bottle
a joke
Word OriginOld English cracian ‘make an explosive noise’; of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kraken and German krachen. Sense (8) of the noun is from Irish craic ‘entertaining conversation’.
Idioms
See crack in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee crack in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishcrack the whip
- to use your authority or power to make somebody work very hard, usually by treating them in a strict way
crack wise
- (informal) to make jokes
- This entertainer can crack wise with the best of them.
get cracking
- (informal) to begin immediately and work quickly synonym get going
- There's a lot to be done, so let's get cracking.
a hard/tough nut (to crack)
- a difficult problem or situation to deal with
not all, everything, etc. somebody’s cracked up to be
- (informal) not as good as people say
- He's not nearly such a good writer as he's cracked up to be.
use a sledgehammer to crack a nut
- to use more force than is necessary
Check pronunciation:
crack