Synonyms & Antonyms for crackerjack

Synonyms: Noun

Antonyms: Noun

Did You Know?

The late 19th-century pairing of crack and jack to form crackerjack topped off a long history for those words. Cracker is an elongation of crack, an adjective meaning "expert" or "superior" that dates from the 18th century. Prior to that, crack was a noun meaning "something superior" and a verb meaning "to boast." (The verb use evolved from the expression "to crack a boast," which came from the sense of crack meaning "to make a loud sharp sound.") Jack has been used for "man" since the mid-1500s, as in "jack-of-all-trades." Crackerjack entered English first as a noun referring to "a person or thing of marked excellence," then as an adjective. You may also know Cracker Jack as a snack of candied popcorn and peanuts. That trademarked name dates from the 1890s.

Examples of crackerjack in a Sentence

Noun a young prospect who's supposed to be a crackerjack on the baseball diamond the cheese maker's aged cheddar is a real crackerjack

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Director Kari Ringer, who also musical directed, has assembled a crackerjack cast; not easy when her performers have to act, sing, proficiently play their instruments and essentially impersonate iconic figures — but not in a cheesy or ironic way. — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, "‘Million Dollar Quartet’ is rich in fun | Review," 8 Mar. 2021 All of the four lead actors in King’s crackerjack ensemble get multiple chances to feast on such brilliant dialogue, and all of them make the most of it. — Mike Scott, NOLA.com, "'One Night in Miami': Ensemble cast, crackling dialogue sell New Orleans-shot play adaptation," 18 Jan. 2021 Teenage Bounty Hunters is also propelled by excellent comic performances by Phillips and Fellini, who don't look all that similar but do share a fizzy chemistry, especially in their crackerjack-timed quips and clairvoyant communications. — Inkoo Kang, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Teenage Bounty Hunters': TV Review," 14 Aug. 2020 Baseball No sport is more closely associated with spring in America than baseball, and the sport’s healing quality means that the return of peanuts and crackerjack will be a key milestone in the coming of normalcy. — Victor Mather, New York Times, "May: The Month That Sports, Kind of, Come Back," 1 May 2020 View this post on Instagram bought myself some peanuts, crackerjacks, a hamburger, and sipped bubbly while dancing with my girls to a few of our fav country music artists. — Lia Beck, refinery29.com, "Victoria Paul’s Bachelor Superlative Should Be “Most Likely To Go To Stagecoach”," 6 Jan. 2020 Peanuts, popcorn and crackerjack, what’s more American than a baseball game on a summer night? — Petula Dvorak, The Denver Post, "Dvorak: Everything wrong with Congress — in one ballgame," 25 June 2019 Peanuts, popcorn and crackerjack, what’s more American than a baseball game on a summer night? — Petula Dvorak, The Denver Post, "Dvorak: Everything wrong with Congress — in one ballgame," 25 June 2019 Peanuts, popcorn and crackerjack, what’s more American than a baseball game on a summer night? — Petula Dvorak, The Denver Post, "Dvorak: Everything wrong with Congress — in one ballgame," 25 June 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'crackerjack.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.