crack a smile

Idioms  

1. Smile, as in Betty was a very serious person; she rarely cracked a smile. This colloquialism transfers crack in the sense of “break” to breaking a serious facial expression into a smile.

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Example Sentences

His sprightly text, ably translated from the French by Arielle Aaronson, may crack a smile on even the most stone-faced among us.

From The Wall Street Journal

Weiner hugs the people he knows, greets the fans he recognizes with smiles and handshakes, goofs with the ever-present stoic dudes who stand there expressionless, arms folded, and he is going to do something that will make them drop their defenses and crack a smile.

From Salon

Though really, I was more than eager to breeze through the hard stuff, “win” a few sessions by making my therapist crack a smile at my mental binder of self-critical jokes and then graduate onto the next thing.

From Salon

It’s intended for the audience to occasionally at least crack a smile during the show’s tougher scenes.

From Los Angeles Times

He can crack a smile and a joke or two, but the bespectacled leader can often take on the grimace of a disappointed elder.

From BBC