2
a
: a mental collapse : nervous breakdown
his wife's death brought on his crack-up
cracked up; cracking up; cracks up
1
: praise, tout sense 1
wasn't all that it was cracked up to be
2
: to damage or destroy (a vehicle) by crashing
crack up a car
3
: to cause to laugh out loud
that joke really cracks him up
1
: to damage or destroy a vehicle (as by losing control)
cracked up on a curve
2
: to laugh out loud
Synonyms
Examples of crack-up in a Sentence
Noun
a crack-up required him to take a year off from work
two people were injured in a serious crack-up on the interstate
Verb
that sports car isn't all it's cracked up to be
the movie is being cracked up as the blockbuster of the summer
Recent Examples on the Web
Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 18 Sep. 2024
And all the better to make his crack-up that much more disorienting and unsettling.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 7 Oct. 2023
Angelique Jackson, Variety, 12 Oct. 2024
Another video from the same day shows the family of three cracking up together in the pool.
—Emma Aerin Becker, People.com, 14 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for crack-up 
Noun
The prevailing explanation for the Ordovician Impact Spike had long been that a large body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter broke up as a result of a collision and the debris from that crack-up eventually found its way to Earth.
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 18 Sep. 2024
And all the better to make his crack-up that much more disorienting and unsettling.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 7 Oct. 2023
Verb
Lamorne cracked up at the suggestion, then quietly orchestrated a face-to-face.
—Angelique Jackson, Variety, 12 Oct. 2024
Another video from the same day shows the family of three cracking up together in the pool.
—Emma Aerin Becker, People.com, 14 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for crack-up
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'crack-up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near crack-up
Cite this Entry
“Crack-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crack-up. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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