Word.ws English Dictionary

crack

UK/kɹæk/

crack verb: to form cracks.

crack: to form cracks
Image: U.S. Army Photographic Signal Corps, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

crack (third-person singular simple present cracks, present participle cracking, simple past and past participle cracked)

  1. (intransitive) To form cracks.
    • It's been so dry, the ground is starting to crack.
  2. (intransitive) To break apart under force, stress, or pressure.
    • When I tried to stand on the chair, it cracked.
  3. (intransitive) To become debilitated by psychological pressure.
    • Anyone would crack after being hounded like that.
  4. (intransitive) To break down or yield, especially under interrogation or torture.
    • When we showed him the pictures of the murder scene, he cracked.
  5. (intransitive) To make a cracking sound.
    • The bat cracked with authority and the ball went for six.
  6. (intransitive) To change rapidly in register.
    • His voice cracked with emotion.
  7. (intransitive) To alternate between high and low register in the process of eventually lowering.
    • His voice finally cracked when he was fourteen.
  8. (intransitive) To make a sharply humorous comment.
    • "I would too, with a face like that," she cracked.
  9. (intransitive, transgender slang) To realize that one is transgender.
    • She cracked at age 22 and came out to her friends and family over the next few months.
  10. (transitive) To make a crack or cracks in.
    • The ball cracked the window.
  11. (transitive) To break open or crush to small pieces by impact or stress.
    • You'll need a hammer to crack a black walnut.
  12. (transitive) To strike forcefully.
    • She cracked him over the head with her handbag.
    • I cracked myhead on a beam.
Show 13 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (transitive) To open slightly.
    • Could you please crack the window?
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To cause to yield under interrogation or other pressure.
    • They managed to crack him on the third day.
  3. (figuratively, transitive) To solve a difficult problem.
    • I've finally cracked it, and of course the answer is obvious in hindsight.
    • "[...] The key to battery trains is more the ability to charge quickly. If you can do that, you've cracked it."2021 November 17, Conrad Landin, “Network News: Vivarail goes forth with fast-charging batteries”, in RAIL, number 944, page 13
  4. (transitive) To overcome a security system or component.
    • It took a minute to crack the lock, three minutes to crack the security system, and about twenty minutes to crack the safe.
    • They finally cracked the code.
  5. (transitive) To cause to make a sharp sound.
    • to crack a whip
    • Hershell cracked his knuckles, a nervous habit that drove Inez crazy[…]2001, Doug McGuinn, The Apple Indians
  6. (transitive) To tell (a joke).
    • The performance was fine until he cracked that dead baby joke.
  7. (transitive) To break down (a complex molecule), especially with the application of heat: to pyrolyse.
    • Acetone is cracked to ketene and methane at 700°C.
  8. (transitive) To circumvent software restrictions such as regional coding or time limits.
    • That software licence will expire tomorrow unless we can crack it.
    • Nobody really knows how much actual damage cracking does to the software companies. But as the industry rolls apprehensively toward the uncertain future of an ever-more frictionless electronic marketplace, almost everyone thinks piracy will increase.1997 April 1, David McCandless, “Warez Wars”, in Wired, →ISSN
  9. (informal, transitive) To open a canned beverage, or any packaged drink or food.
    • I'd love to crack open a beer.
    • Let's crack a tube and watch the game.
  10. (obsolete) To brag; to boast.
    • To whom the boaſter, that all knights did blot, / With proud diſdaine did ſcornefull anſwere make; […] And further did vncomely ſpeaches crake.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 16, page 216
    • And Æthiopes of their ſweet complexion crack.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  11. (archaic, colloquial) To be ruined or impaired; to fail.
    • The credit[…]of exchequers cracks, when little comes in and much goes out.1697, Virgil, “Dedications”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
  12. (colloquial) To barely reach or attain (a measurement or extent).
    • An underground band that never cracked the Hot 100
    • IQ (Intelligence Quotient), number said to measure an individual's intelligence that many experts who clearly didn't crack 125 say overlooks important attributes such as creativity and social skills.2012, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge, page 102
  13. (mid 2020s slang) To have sex with a female or feminine person for the first time, especially penetrative sex.
    • Did you hear about Josh cracking Stacy in the school hall?
    • […] they end up thinking that they can escape the pain of incel-dom by “cracking” a femboy […]2025 September 17, Henry Giardina, “Transmaxxing, femboys & the groyper ideology that’s poisoning people’s brains”, in Queerty
    Synonyms:
    approach, cohabit, common, company, copulate, couple, engage in sex, exchange flesh, have intimate relations, have marital relations
    1. (usually, mid 2020s slang) To have sex.
      • i shifted to crack him. i cracked him real good in my dr.2026 May 20, u/yakhdili, “addressing the new shiftcels who are interested in knowing about my experience, this will be good i promise.”, in r/shiftingcirclejerk (Reddit post)

Noun (1)

crack (countable and uncountable, plural cracks)

  1. A thin and usually jagged space opened in a previously solid material.
    • A large crack had formed in the roadway.
    Synonyms:
    crevice, fissure
  2. A narrow opening.
    • We managed to squeeze through a crack in the rock wall.
    • Open the door a crack.
  3. (figuratively, slang) A sharply humorous comment; a wisecrack.
    • I didn't appreciate that crack about my hairstyle.
  4. (figuratively, slang, uncommon) A flaw, weakness, setback, or insecurity.
    • It’s a fact all those cracks they can hold you back / But there’s a better way (there’s a better way) / Just keep on pushing, keep on pushing, keep on pushing / For a brighter day1978, Shalamar, “Leave It All Up to Love”, in Disco Gardens
  5. (slang) Crack cocaine, a potent, relatively cheap, addictive variety of cocaine; often a rock, usually smoked through a crack pipe.
    • crack head
    • And even as a crack fiend, Mama / You always was a black queen, Mama1995, “Dear Mama”, in Me Against the World, performed by 2Pac
  6. (broadly, figuratively, humorous, slang) Something pleasurable (good-tasting or appealing) and habit-forming.
    • kitty crack
    • Her love was crack to me, and I was hooked real bad.
  7. (onomatopoeic) The sharp sound made when solid material breaks.
    • The crack of the falling branch could be heard for miles.
  8. (onomatopoeic) Any sharp sound.
    • The crack of the bat hitting the ball.
    • She broke to love in the opening game, only for Bartoli to hit straight back in game two, which was interrupted by a huge crack of thunder that made Lisicki jump and prompted nervous laughter from the 15,000 spectators.2011 June 28, Piers Newbery, “Wimbledon 2011: Sabine Lisicki beats Marion Bartoli”, in BBC Sport
  9. A sharp, resounding blow.
    • Mrs. Perkins, who has not been for some weeks on speaking terms with Mrs. Piper in consequence for an unpleasantness originating in young Perkins' having "fetched" young Piper "a crack," renews her friendly intercourse on this auspicious occasion.1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 11, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC
  10. (slang) An attempt at something.
    • I'd like to take a crack at that game.
  11. (slang, vulgar) The vagina.
    • I rattled off more silly nonsense, all the while clutching her firmly, pushing my fingers into her gluey crack.1956, Henry Miller, Quiet Days in Clichy, Grove Press, published 1987, →ISBN, page 143
  12. (slang, vulgar) The space between the buttocks.
    • Pull up your pants! Your crack is showing.
Show 15 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (Ireland, Northern England, Scotland) Conviviality; fun; good conversation, chat, gossip, or humorous storytelling; good company.
    • The party was great crack.
    • He's good crack. [It's nice having him around]
  2. (Cumbria, Northern-UK) A chat.
    • And when he come down in the evenings, he’d drop in every night to have a crack wi’ Old Bob.1936, Arthur Ransome, chapter 3, in Pigeon Post
  3. (Ireland, Northern England, Scotland) Business; events; news.
    • What's the crack?
    • What's this crack about a possible merger?
  4. A program or procedure designed to circumvent restrictions or usage limits on software.
    • Has anyone got a crack for DocumentWriter 3.0?
  5. (US, dated) An expanding circle of white water surrounding the site of a large explosion at shallow depth, marking the progress of the shock wave through the air above the water.
  6. (Internet) Extremely silly, absurd or off-the-wall ideas or prose.
  7. The tone of voice when changed at puberty.
    • And let vs (Polidore) though now our voyces / Haue got the manniſh cracke, ſing him to'th'ground1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
  8. (archaic) A mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity.
    • He has a crack.
  9. (archaic) A crazy or crack-brained person.
    • On the London Cries […] I have lately received a letter from some very odd fellow upon this subject […] ‘Sir, […], but I cannot get the parliament to listen to me ; who look upon me, forsooth, as a crack and a projector […] I am, SIR, &c. / RALPH CROTCHET’1711 December 28 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, December 18, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 251; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a...
    Synonyms:
    crackpot
  10. (obsolete) A boast; boasting.
    • Slaunderous reproches,and fowle infamies, / Leaſings,backbytings,and vaineglorious crakes1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 10, page 350
    • D'ye hear wha's coming to cow yere cracks?1814, Walter Scott, chapter 30, in Waverley, volume 1, Boston: Samuel H. Parker, published 1828, page 224
    Synonyms:
    brag, vaunt
  11. (obsolete) Breach of chastity.
    • But thinke her bond of Chaſtity quite crack'd, I hauing 'tane the forfeyt.1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
  12. (obsolete) A boy, generally a pert, lively boy.
    • The ſame Sir Iohn, the very ſame: I ſaw him breake Scogaan's Head at the Court-Gate, when hee was a Crack, not thus high: […]c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
    • Indeed la, tis a noble childe. / - A Cracke Madam.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    Synonyms:
    pistol
  13. (UK, dated, slang) A brief time; an instant; a jiffy.
    • I'll be with you in a crack.
  14. (dated, African-American Vernacular) The act of hitting on someone.
    • The eyes of my sisters who fear my crack^*
    • [footnote] Before the popularization of the term "crack" as a drug, its common usage in the Black community referred to men publicly cruising and approaching women.1987 February 1, Joseph Beam, “Creating Myself from Scratch: Living as a Black Gay Man in the 1980s”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 28, page 5
  15. (obsolete, gypsy slang) Dry firewood.

Adjective

crack (not comparable)

  1. Highly trained and competent.
    • Even a crack team of investigators would have trouble solving this case.
  2. Excellent, first-rate, superior, top-notch.
    • She's a crack shot with that rifle.
    • Every scratch in the scheme was a gnarled oak in the forest of difficulty, and I went on cutting them down, one after another, with such vigour, that in three or four months I was in a condition to make an experiment on one of our crack speakers in the Commons.1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 38, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC

Noun (2)

crack (plural cracks)

  1. (obsolete) One who excels; the best, especially a winning racehorse.
    • Stanton had at one time a reputation for inaccessibility, but that has long since become a thing of the past, […] So that the gallops of the cracks' can, in most cases, be regularly watched and their daily doings truthfully chronicled.1872, Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, volume 21, page 314
    • 1st Gent. What dost think, Jockey? / 2nd Gent. The crack o' the field's against you.1888 [1637], James Shirley, Hyde Park, act IV, scene iii, page 236

Proper noun capitalized: Crack

Crack (plural Cracks)

  1. A surname

crack meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

crack in Hindi

crack, boom; a sudden loud sound
कड़क kaṛak
crack
दर्रा darrā

crack in Tamil

to form cracks
விரிசல் விடு virical viṭu
to break apart under pressure
உடை uṭai, நொருக்கு norukku, நொறுக்கு noṟukku
to become debilitated by psychological pressure
நொறுங்கு noṟuṅku
of boy's voice: to alternate between high and low register in the process of eventually lowering
உடை uṭai

crack in Marathi

to crack, cleave or split open
फाटणे phāṭaṇe

crack in Urdu

crack
پٹ paṭ, درہ darra, خراش xarāś
More languagesFewer languages
crack in Bengali
ফাটল phaṭol
crack in Telugu
బద్దలగు baddalagu
crack in Malayalam
വിള്ളുക viḷḷuka, വിള്ളൽ viḷḷal
crack in Kannada
ಇಂಡೆ, ಬಿರುಕು, ಇಡುಪು, ಬೀಟೆ
crack in Odia
କ୍ର୍ଯ଼ାକ୍, ଫାଟ, କ୍ରାକ୍
crack in Sanskrit
क्रन्द् krand, स्फुट् sphuṭ
crack in Assamese
ফাটা phata, ফটা phota, ফাট phat, ফাঁক phãk
crack in Nepali
क्र्याक, क्रेक
crack in Arabic
صَدْع ṣadʕ
crack in Malay
retakan
crack in Persian
ترک tarak
crack in Myanmar
အက် ak

Examples of crack in a sentence

  • Watch your head, don't crack it on that beam.
  • Bedding provided for late session became ammunition—meet ended in riot when Labor man cracked leader on jaw.1914 June 10, “Pillow Fight In Australian Parliament”, in Independence Daily Reporter:
  • ‘I vow to crack him full sore,’ said the knight, taking out his writing-table and making a note.1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 54:
  • Old Bouvet was waiting in the passage when I entered, and he asked me whether we might not crack a bottle of wine together.1894, The Strand, volume 8, page 569:
  • Stultitiam ſuam produnt &c. (ſaith Platerus) your very tradeſmen, if they be excellent, will crack and bragge, and ſhew their folly in exceſſe.1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Cauſes of Melancholy. Vaine-glory, Pride, Ioy, Praiſe, &c.”, in The Anatomy of...

All 40 example sentences with crack

Synonyms of crack

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of crack

Forms of crack

Verb
third-person singular presentcracks
present participlecracking
past participlecracked
pastcracked
Noun
pluralcracks
Proper noun
pluralCracks

Past tense of crack: cracked

Plural of crack: cracks

Origin of crack

From Middle English crakken, craken, from Old English cracian (“to resound, crack”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn (“to crack, crackle, shriek”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to resound, cry hoarsely”). Cognate with Scots crak (“to crack”), West Frisian kreakje (“to crack”), Dutch kraken (“to crunch, creak, squeak”), Low German kraken (“to crack”), German krachen (“to crash, crack, creak”), Lithuanian gi̇̀rgžděti (“to creak, squeak”), Old Armenian կարկաչ (karkačʻ), Sanskrit गर्जति (gárjati, “to roar, hum”). Compare typologically English crevice (<< Latin crepō), Bulgarian пукнатина (puknatina) (akin to пу́кам (púkam)), Russian тре́щина (tréščina) (akin to треск (tresk)), щель (ščelʹ) (akin to щёлкать (ščólkatʹ)).

Slang first attested 1793, perhaps from the verb in the sense of doing something quickly or with intelligence, or in the sense of "speaking boastingly" and having something to be proud of.

Words formed from crack

Phrases with crack

72 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with crack

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about crack

What does crack mean?
Crack means to form cracks.
What is crack in Hindi?
Crack in Hindi is कड़क (kaṛak), दर्रा (darrā). See Crack meaning in Hindi.
How do you use crack in a sentence?
Watch your head, don't crack it on that beam.
What part of speech is crack?
Crack can be a verb, a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce crack?
Crack is pronounced /kɹæk/ (UK).
What is the past tense of crack?
The past tense of crack is cracked.

Words near crack in the dictionary

  1. Craces
  2. crachach
  3. crachachs
  4. cracid
  5. cracids
  6. crack
  7. crack a book
  8. crack a crib
  9. crack a crust
  10. crack a fat
  11. crack a rat

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: crack (page history and authors); Crack (page history and authors); कड़क (Hindi) (page history and authors); फाटणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); خراش (Urdu) (page history and authors); വിള്ളുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); crack (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); crack (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); क्रन्द् (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); crack (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-crack.ogg.

Cite this entry: “crack.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/crack. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.