Definition of: "not all it’s cracked up to be" with explanation and origin

Definition of: not all it’s cracked up to be with explanation and origin? Meaning of not all it’s cracked up to be with examples in English idiom dictionary.

English	English

Definition of: "not all it’s cracked up to be" with explanation and origin

not all it’s cracked up to be

not all it’s cracked up to be

Meaning

• Not as good as people say it is.
• When you say “not all it’s cracked up to be,” you mean that you expected better than what you saw in someone or something.
• It means that something or someone didn’t meet your expectations, so you overrated that person or something.

Examples in Sentences

1. The highly ranked institutions in Boston aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.
2. Everyone in our school was talking about the new phone on the market, and I felt like I was missing out a lot without that phone, so I decided to purchase it. But, to my surprise, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
3. My friend couldn’t stop hyping about the movie he watched over the weekend. So after school, I bought the movie and watched it overnight, and I realized that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
4. People have been talking day and night about our neighboring school’s outstanding performance. After the end of the year exam, we all realized it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, for we had performed better than them.

Origin

The idiom, “not all it’s cracked up to be,” originated from the archaic meaning of the word “crack,” which means to talk, to or to give praises to something or someone. The idiom was commonly used in the late 1700s and early 1800s. If we replace the word crack with its meaning in the phrase, we get “not all it’s talked about.”

See also: up to the mark

The Origins of not all it’s cracked up to be

English

Related Dictionary

• English Definition & Meaning Dictionary
• English Idioms and phrases Dictionary
• Dictionnaire Français
• Dictionnaire d'expressions idiomatiques et de phrases en français

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English Idioms and phrases

An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below). By another definition, an idiom is a speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements.[3] For example, an English speaker would understand the phrase "kick the bucket" to mean "to die" – and also to actually kick a bucket. Furthermore, they would understand when each meaning is being used in context.

To evoke the desired effect in the listener, idioms require a precise replication of the phrase: not even articles can be used interchangeably (e.g. "kick a bucket" only retains the literal meaning of the phrase but not the idiomatic meaning).

Idioms should not be confused with other figures of speech such as metaphors, which evoke an image by use of implicit comparisons (e.g., "the man of steel"); similes, which evoke an image by use of explicit comparisons (e.g., "faster than a speeding bullet"); or hyperbole, which exaggerates an image beyond truthfulness (e.g., "more powerful than a locomotive"). Idioms are also not to be confused with proverbs, which are simple sayings that express a truth based on common sense or practical experience.