crackerjack
Americannoun
adjective
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of crackerjack
1890–95, earlier crackajack, rhyming compound based on crack (adjective); -a- as in blackamoor ( def. ); jack 1 ( def. ) in sense “fellow, buddy”
Explanation
Someone who's a crackerjack is really good at what they do. A crackerjack of a magician will amaze you with every trick she performs. You can use the word crackerjack for any excellent thing or person — you might say, for example, that your new car is a crackerjack or compliment your friend on her crackerjack of a performance at the school talent show. Crackerjack is an informal word that can be a noun or an adjective — and it's also the name of the caramel-covered popcorn and nuts you might buy at a baseball game.
Vocabulary lists containing crackerjack
Hick
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The Corruption of Hollis Brown
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Fox grabbed the driver out of the bag and launched a crackerjack of a 330-yard tee-shot into the middle of the fairway.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
In the film, Reeve can brood as well as he can smolder, punch as precisely as he can deliver a crackerjack line of dialogue.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2025
A crackerjack concert-style revival finished up a run last month at the Kennedy Center, with Steven Pasquale and James Monroe Iglehart portraying lovable bad boys Sky Masterson and Nathan Detroit.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 29, 2022
The recent passing of the crackerjack genre filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen makes this a fine time to revisit one of his biggest hits.
From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2022
“Kindly invite your network of crackerjack librarians all across this country to organize regional competitions.”
From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
