cracked

1. 1
   adjective

   Split by lines running on or just under the surface, but not fully broken apart.

   Like ice on a pond marked with white lines but still holding together.

   A cracked windshield can spread into a larger fracture over time.

   The antique vase was cracked but had not yet fallen apart.

   Similarfractured, split, crazed

   Oppositeintact, whole, unbroken

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of crack.

   The whip cracked loudly across the empty field.

   Years of frost cracked the old stone wall.

   Note

   A regular -ed form doing double duty. In "the whip cracked" it is the simple past. After have or be it is the participle: the wall has cracked, the ice was cracked. That participle is the bridge to the surface-fracture sense, since a cracked vase is one that has cracked. Many of the verb's uses are intransitive, such as a voice cracking or a suspect cracking under questioning, and the form follows them: he finally cracked.

3. 3
   adjective

   Broken into coarse, rough pieces rather than finely ground.

   Like coffee beans broken roughly instead of ground to dust.

   The recipe calls for cracked corn rather than fine cornmeal.

   Cracked barley cooks faster than the whole grain.

   Similarcrushed

   Oppositewhole, ground

4. 4
   adjective

   Harsh and unpleasant in sound; rough or dissonant rather than smooth and clear.

   Like the rasp of a worn-out speaker pushed too loud.

   She sang the high note in a cracked, strained tone.

   The choir's cracked harmonies grated on every listener.

   Similarharsh, rough, dissonant, raspy, discordant

   Oppositesmooth, clear, mellifluous, harmonious

   Note

   Mostly a word for voices: the sound of one that rasps, strains or slips off its pitch. It sits close to the verb crack in its sense of changing rapidly in register, which is what a voice does when it breaks on a high note, so a cracked voice sounds caught mid-break. Raspy and rough are near neighbors, but cracked adds the feeling of strain and breaking, not mere roughness.

5. 5
   adjectiveslang

   Crazy or eccentric; holding foolish or wildly irrational ideas.

   Like a machine that runs but does everything in the wrong order.

   Half his cracked schemes never made any sense to the rest of us.

   She's completely cracked if she thinks that plan will work.

   Similarcrazy, bonkers, cuckoo, batty, daft

   Oppositesane, sensible, rational

   Note

   Slang that pictures the mind as a flawed vessel, the same image behind its close relative crackpot. It fits people and their ideas alike, as in a cracked scheme or she's cracked. It also echoes the verb crack in its sense of breaking down under psychological pressure: someone who cracks under strain may end up cracked. As slang, it is a casual insult and best kept out of careful writing.

6. 6
   adjectiveslang

   Exceptionally skilled at something, most often at playing a particular video game.

   Like an athlete so good they make the hardest moves look easy.

   The new recruit is cracked at first-person shooters.

   You have to be cracked to beat that level on hard mode.

   Similarinsane, elite, skilled

   Oppositebad

   Note

   Gamer slang of high praise, aimed at a player: "20 kills? Dude, you're cracked." Its origin is disputed, but it may descend from the much older crack shot, someone skilled at shooting, which suits a word so at home in shooter games. It takes at for the skill (cracked at shooters) and stays in casual talk. Keep it apart from the "crazy" meaning: here it is a compliment, there an insult.

7. 7
   adjectiveslang

   Surprisingly excellent in the quality of the experience it delivers, usually said of a video game.

   Like a meal so good you remember it for years afterward.

   Reviewers say the sequel is cracked, with addictive gameplay throughout.

   The whole soundtrack is cracked from start to finish.

   Similaramazing, awesome, insane, incredible

   Oppositeterrible, mediocre

   Note

   Here the praise moves from the player to the game itself: "This mode is actually cracked." Surprise is built into the sense, so it pairs naturally with words like actually. Grammar usually tells it apart from the skilled-player meaning. A person is cracked at something. A mode, a level or a soundtrack simply is cracked, with no at and no skill involved.

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