cracked

American  

[krakt] / krækt /

adjective

1. broken.

   a container full of cracked ice.

2. broken without separation of parts; fissured.

3. damaged; injured.

4. Informal. eccentric; mad; daffy.

   a charming person, but a bit cracked.

5. broken in tone, as the voice.

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idioms

1. cracked up to be, reported or reputed to be (usually used in the negative).

   I hear the play is not what it's cracked up to be.

cracked British  

/ krækt /

adjective

1. damaged by cracking

2. informal crazy

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Other Word Forms

• uncracked adjective

Etymology

Origin of cracked

First recorded in 1400–50, cracked is from the late Middle English word crachyd. See crack, -ed ²

Example Sentences

Truly cracked engineers didn’t dirty their hands with client-facing work.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 4, 2026

She remembers learning tennis on her neighborhood street and “the cracked court” at Carson High.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026

It’s a cracked mirror, with each fragment revealing a different, distorted image of the human psyche — and it’s really funny, too.

From Salon • Apr. 3, 2026

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

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

The day after the subprime mortgage market insiders left Las Vegas and returned to their trading desks, the market cracked.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Related Words

• broken
• damaged
• fractured