cracked up

Idioms  

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]

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Example Sentences

Turns out that “inexhaustible” abundance is not all it’s cracked up to be.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

"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."

From BBC • May 11, 2025

“That was a small sample. Everybody is getting so cracked up about Vegas, keep bringing up Vegas. It was two games. We took care of that business … but that was really just two games.”

From Seattle Times • Jan. 5, 2024

Now, they’re not shown to be the faultless bastions of good they were cracked up to be.

From Salon • Nov. 27, 2023

We both cracked up a little and then I looked out onto the road.

From "We Were Here" by Matt De La Peña