crackling
Americannoun
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cracklings
plural
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the making of slight cracking sounds rapidly repeated.
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the crisp browned skin or rind of roast pork.
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Southern U.S. Usually cracklings. the crisp residue left when fat, especially hog or chicken fat, is rendered.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of crackling
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:
The sets have too many doors, the scenes have a delirious number of extras and the actors yell their lines over the distracting clatter of crackling fireplaces, beeping machines and ticking clocks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026
Simon soon picks up a handheld CRT device to help with sneaking - a clever updated version of another staple of the Silent Hill series: the crackling radio.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Resident Sutrismi, 47, said she was at home on Saturday when she heard a "crackling sound", looked out of the window and saw smoke rising from the peatland across the road.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
Don’t be afraid of any crackling; cumin seeds should sizzle when fried.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2026
She looked like Mom again, with her Serious Business hair and her dirty hands and her crackling eyes, but she wasn’t exactly the same.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
Flag isn’t like the Baxters’ other animals: He can’t pull a plow, track a bear, provide milk, or become a plateful of cracklings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026
Jaíne again turns to her native country of Brazil, making plantain gnocchi, pan-fried in duck fat with cracklings and orange sauce.
From Salon ● Apr. 20, 2022
It needed more than citrus jam and limp, chicken-skin cracklings to make it interesting.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 20, 2018
He remained unpersuaded when the waiter plunged a sharp knife into the cheek, prying loose slices of meat and strips of sweet, spicy cracklings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2016
I restack picture books and place the toys back in wooden bins while she sweeps for cookie crumbs, egg splots, cracklings of hard candy.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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.
