cracking up
Bursting with laughter
Cracking up has two main senses.
The first is breaking down mentally or emotionally—losing composure under stress: The pressure of the job was making her crack up.
The second, more common in casual speech, is laughing uncontrollably: That comedian had us cracking up.
Both involve a kind of breaking apart, whether of sanity or composure.
- hystericalEmotionally out of control
- laughingMaking sounds of amusement
- dying laughingOverwhelmed by humor
- belly laughLoud, uncontrolled amusement
- can't breatheUnable to inhale
lose it · hilarity · guffawing · busting a gut · losing it · break down · freaking out · nervous breakdown · mental break · meltdown · going crazy · giggling · side-splitting · chuckling · in stitches · snickering · go crazy · merriment
- laughterlaugh, giggling, chuckling, laughing, snickering
- bloopersbloopers, blooper, fail, gag reel, outtakes
- insanityinsane, crazy, mad, lunatic, insanity
- mental crisesnervous breakdown, mental breakdown, mental collapse, mental break, emotional collapse
cracking upkeeping it together
Staying functional despite stress
keeping a straight face · holding it together · keeping one's cool · stone-faced · deadpan
cracking upsobbing
Convulsive crying aloud
weeping · crying · bawling · bursting into tears · falling apart
crack, cracked, cracks, cracking, crack up, crackling, crack-up, uncracked, cracked up