What does "cracker" mean?
A noisy boaster; a swaggering fellow.
Cracker
/ˈkɹækə(ɹ)/ noun, slang
noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A noisy boaster; a swaggering fellow.
- Grammar: cracker is listed as noun, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: firecracker, backwoodsman, banger, biscuit.
- Useful contrasts: compliment, cookie, defender.
- Usage evidence: Yecch. This rice cracker is soggy.
How to use "cracker"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "cracker" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "cracker" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "cracker" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "cracker" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "cracker" is acting as noun, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "firecracker" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
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Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "cracker", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A noisy boaster; a swaggering fellow. obsolete
"What cracker is this same that deafs our ears?"
- 2 a party favor consisting of a paper roll (usually containing candy or a small favor) that pops when pulled at both ends wordnet
- 3 A dry, thin, crispy baked bread (usually salty or savoury, but sometimes sweet, as in the case of graham crackers and animal crackers).
- 4 firework consisting of a small explosive charge and fuse in a heavy paper casing wordnet
- 5 A prawn cracker.
"There was feasting and joy from Shanghai to the Wall, What with dim-sims, chop-suey and crackers and all, And the donor of these, by the hook of my crook. Was Chiang Ki-Konglong, the Mandarin Cook."
Show 14 more definitions
- 6 a thin crisp wafer made of flour and water with or without leavening and shortening; unsweetened or semisweet wordnet
- 7 The final section of certain whips, which is made of a short, thin piece of unravelled rope, or which is a short piece of twisted string tied to the end of the whip, which produces a distinctive cracking sound when the whip is cracked.
- 8 a programmer who cracks (gains unauthorized access to) computers, typically to do malicious things wordnet
- 9 A firecracker.
- 10 a poor White person in the southern United States wordnet
- 11 A Christmas cracker.
"It is customary in every part of China to fire off crackers on the last day and night of the year for the purpose of terrifying expelling the devils."
- 12 A northern pintail, a dabbling duck of species Anas acuta. UK
- 13 A person or thing that breaks a thing (e.g., nutcracker).
"a lobster and crab shell cracker"
- 14 A person or thing that breaks a thing (e.g., nutcracker).; Refinery equipment used to pyrolyse organic feedstocks. If catalyst is used to aid pyrolysis it is informally called a cat-cracker
- 15 A person or thing that breaks a thing (e.g., nutcracker).; A pair of fluted rolls for grinding caoutchouc. obsolete
- 16 A person or thing that breaks a thing (e.g., nutcracker).; One who cracks (i.e. overcomes) computer software or security restrictions.
"It stated to one of the company's operators, “The Phantom, the system cracker, strikes again . . . Soon I will zero (expletive deleted) your desks and your backups on System A. I have already cracked your System B."
- 17 A fine, great thing or person (crackerjack). Australia, British, Ireland, New-Zealand, slang
"She's an absolute cracker!"
- 18 An ambitious or hard-working person (i.e. someone who arises at the 'crack' of dawn).
- 19 An impoverished white person from the southeastern United States, originally associated with Georgia and parts of Florida; (by extension) any white person (slang). US, derogatory, ethnic, offensive, slur
"Brothers and the whiteys / Blacks and the crackers / Police and their backers / They're all political actors"
Antonyms
Example
"Yecch. This rice cracker is soggy."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "cracker"?
Common synonyms include: firecracker, backwoodsman, banger, biscuit, biscuit, biscuits.
How do you use "cracker" in a sentence?
Yecch. This rice cracker is soggy.
How do you pronounce "cracker"?
Pronounced /ˈkɹækə(ɹ)/.
Etymology
From Middle English craker (“a boaster”), equivalent to crack (“to break, snap, utter, make a sound”) + -er. From crack (verb), the sound made when one is broken. The hard "bread" and "biscuit" sense is first attested in 1739. The computing senses of cracker, crack, and cracking were promoted in the 1980s as an alternative to hacker, by programmers concerned about negative public associations of hack, hacking (“creative computer coding”). See Citations:cracker. Various theories exist regarding the term's application to poor white Southerners. One theory holds that it originated with disadvantaged corn and wheat farmers (corncrackers), who cracked their crops rather than taking them to the mill. Another theory asserts that it was applied due to Georgia and Florida settlers (Florida crackers) who cracked loud whips to drive herds of cattle, or, alternatively, from the whip cracking of plantation slave drivers. Yet another theory maintains that the term cracker was in use in Elizabethan times to describe braggarts (see crack (“to boast”)); a letter from 1766 supports this theory.