cracked up

1. Past tense of crack up .

2. cracked up to be . Reputed to be. This expression is always used in a negative way, as in I don't think this book is all it's cracked up to be . It relies on the now obsolete use of to crack up to mean “to praise extravagantly.” It appeared in The Kentuckian : “He is not the thing he is cracked up for” (May 28, 1829). [Early 1800s]

3. Under the influence of crack (a form of cocaine). For example, “Who's cracked up, who's cracked out, and who's dead?” ( World News Tonight , ABC-TV, May 12, 1992). [1980s]

Example Sentences

A sprinkle of heavenly magic, and Arj can be taught a valuable lesson—by trading places with Jeff and finding out that wealth isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

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When he saw the result in the mirror, he cracked up: “Oh my God, I’m Geppetto. I look just like the Disney version.”

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"I just cracked up laughing of course, because that's what any woman would want to hear, but it's our life, so it's pretty wonderful. He was a man of his word."

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I cracked up, and it felt like sobbing.

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As for whether AI is actually all it’s cracked up to be, according to its promoters — that reckoning is still to come.

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