The effect of cyclic compressive stress on fracture responses of Al2O3 was investigated under uniaxial stress cycling. Experimental data were obtained for Al2O3 tension specimens under uniaxial tension-unloading and tension-compression cyclic loading conditions. To investigate the effect of compressive stress on the crack growth, theoretical results from the crack growth rate were compared with measured stress vs. failure relations. At low stress level in tension-compression cycling, residual tensile strains were also observed about failure time.