cracker

American  

[krak-er] / ˈkræk ər /

noun

• crackers
  plural

1. a thin, crisp biscuit.

2. a firecracker.

3. Also called cracker bonbon. a small paper roll used as a party favor, that usually contains candy, trinkets, etc., and that pops when pulled sharply at one or both ends.

4. (initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of Georgia or Florida (used as a nickname).

5. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a white person in the South, especially a poor white living in some rural parts of the southeastern U.S.

6. Slang. black hat.

7. snapper.

8. braggart; boaster.

9. a person or thing that cracks.

10. a chemical reactor used for cracking.

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adjective

1. Informal. crackers, wild; crazy.

   They went crackers over the new styles.

cracker British  

/ ˈkrækə /

noun

1. a decorated cardboard tube that emits a bang when pulled apart, releasing a toy, a joke, or a paper hat

2. short for firecracker

3. a thin crisp biscuit, usually unsweetened

4. a person or thing that cracks

5. offensive another word for poor White

6. slang a thing or person of notable qualities or abilities

7. informal worthless; useless

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Sensitive Note

The term cracker is used as a neutral nickname by inhabitants of Georgia and Florida; it is a positive term of self-reference. But when the nickname is used by outsiders, it is usually with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting by Georgians and Floridians. Cracker is always disparaging and offensive when used to refer to a poor white person in the South; the word in this sense often implies that the person is regarded as ignorant or uneducated. When used by Black people, cracker can refer to a Southern white racist, not necessarily poor or rural. See also Cracker State.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• crackers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cracker

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English craker; see crack, -er ¹; cracker defs. 4, 5 were perhaps originally in sense “braggart,” applied to frontiersmen of the southern American colonies in the 1760s, though subsequently given other interpretations ( cf. corn-cracker); cracker for def. 11 crackers “crazy,” cf. cracked, -ers

Explanation

A cracker is a snack. It’s a thin, savory, crisp biscuit, like a saltine. It’s also anything that cracks, like a firecracker or a computer code cracker, or of course, that thin, savory snack that cracks when you break it. Besides a baked wafer, another kind of cracker is a noisemaker — either a small firework that makes a sharp bang, or the kind that snaps loudly when you pull its colorful paper wrapper apart. Cracker can also be used as an offensive term for a white person, particularly one who's Southern and poor. This meaning comes from the sense of crack as "brag," and a cracker, therefore, as a "bragger."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cracker crackers

The instrument is a 300 megapixel infrared camera equipped with 18 4K detectors, each roughly the size of a saltine cracker.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026

In early June, Taiwanese manufacturer Formosa Petrochemical reported cutting the utilisation rate of its ethylene steam cracker to 35 percent, down from 53 percent in March at the very start of the war.

From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026

That includes blue cheese, gorgonzola or parmesan on a wheel, which Lutnick eats plain, without a cracker.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026

"He had a cracker tonight," former Scotland winger Pat Nevin said on BBC Sportsound.

From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026

It was a fat-free, home baked cracker with real fruit and yogurt inside.

From "The Million Dollar Shot" by Dan Gutman

Whenever Lori Ott from Saltsburg, Penn., visits family in Hawaii, she always tries to stock up on Japanese rice crackers and macadamia nuts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

Buildings and bridges crumpled like soggy soda crackers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

While it’s probably a good idea to try and rely a bit less heavily on packaged snack foods, there’s no major danger from allowing your tiny humans to have their regular packet of fish-shaped crackers.

From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2026

Campbell’s Co. is depending on Goldfish crackers to revive its struggling snacks business, and it’s giving the brand a revamp in the process.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026

“We ate the crackers we’d left there. But after a while the candles burned down and went out. It was so dark. And cold. We told each other stories, we sang songs...”

From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn

Related Words

• biscuit
• cookie
• pretzel