- present participle of crack.
cracking
Americannoun
adverb
adjective
idioms
adjective
-
informal (prenominal) fast; vigorous (esp in the phrase a cracking pace )
-
informal to start doing something quickly or do something with increased speed
adverb
noun
-
The process of breaking down complex chemical compounds by heating them. Sometimes a catalyst is added to lower the amount of heat needed for the reaction. Cracking is used especially for breaking petroleum molecules into shorter molecules and to extract low-boiling fractions, such as gasoline, from petroleum.
-
See also hydrocracking
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cracking
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English; see crack, -ing 1, -ing 2
Vocabulary lists containing cracking
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.
See Examples For:
Rooney, who was cracking up in the studio alongside Richards and former England goalie Joe Hart, called it "the best interview I've ever seen".
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and other Orange County towns are cracking down on elaborate shade coverings, citing safety issues.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Africa's largest oil producer has increased production in recent years in part by cracking down on theft while also hiring former militants who sabotaged pipelines to act as security.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
Some residents said the walls in their buildings were already cracking before the quakes and rebar was exposed in some columns, signs of what they called shoddy construction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
I’m glad she’s cracking herself up, but where are my answers?
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
The campus was impressive for what happened within its walls: chest crackings, organ transplants, molecular imagings, genetic probes, and virtually any other medical service known in the advanced world.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
I said nothing, and Leper, having said so much, went on to say more, to speak above the wind and crackings as though his story would never be finished.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
All the Arctic peoples had been thrown into panic, and so had the animals, not only by the fog and the magnetic variations but by unseasonal crackings of ice and stirrings in the soil.
From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman
Away in the sun hay was being made and carried, with crackings of whips and distant voices.
From The Danvers Jewels, and Sir Charles Danvers by Cholmondeley, Mary
There would come a vast sighing like a wave of sound, and a settling, a few crackings far off, and then silence.
From Stubble by Looms, George
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.
