Word.ws English Dictionary

cracking wise

cracking wise is the present participle and gerund of crack wise.

Meaning of crack wise

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) To make a sarcastic, flippant, or sardonic comment.
    • "Whenever I commit a crime?" expostulated Paul. "Where do you get that stuff, Ferret?" / "Out of me nut, kiddo. Why don't you stop cracking wise, and go back to the ribbon counter?"1917, George Bronson-Howard, Slaves of the Lamp
    Synonyms:
    wisecrack

Questions about cracking wise

What is cracking wise the present participle and gerund of?
Cracking wise is the present participle and gerund of crack wise.

Words near cracking wise in the dictionary

  1. cracking out
  2. cracking someone's egg
  3. cracking the flags
  4. cracking through
  5. cracking up
  6. cracking wise
  7. crackings
  8. crackjaw
  9. crackle
  10. crackle glass
  11. crackleberries

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cracking wise (page history and authors); crack wise (page history and authors). 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.

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