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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.

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.

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 • Oct. 31, 2025

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 • Jul. 14, 2024

Milley didn't crack a smile all night, even when Biden came over to glad-hand after his speech.

From Salon • Aug. 18, 2023

For 1 hour 49 minutes, Eldridge does not crack a smile.

From Washington Post • Apr. 12, 2023

She didn’t even crack a smile at my attempt at humor.

From "Auggie & Me" by R. J. Palacio

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.