crush
Americanverb (used with object)
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crushes,
present (3rd person singular)
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crushed,
past participle, past
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crushing
present participle
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to press or squeeze with a force that destroys or deforms.
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to squeeze or pound into small fragments or particles, as ore, stone, etc.
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to force out by pressing or squeezing; extract.
to crush cottonseeds in order to produce oil.
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to rumple; wrinkle; crease.
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to smooth or flatten by pressure.
to crush leather.
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to hug or embrace forcibly or strongly.
He crushed her in his arms.
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to destroy, subdue, or suppress utterly.
to crush a revolt.
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to overwhelm with confusion, chagrin, or humiliation, as by argumentation or a slighting action or remark; squelch.
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to oppress grievously.
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Archaic. to finish drinking (wine, ale, etc.).
verb (used without object)
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crushes,
present (3rd person singular)
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crushed,
past participle, past
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crushing
present participle
-
to become crushed.
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to advance with crushing; press or crowd forcibly.
noun
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crushes
plural
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the act of crushing; state of being crushed.
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a great crowd.
a crush of shoppers.
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Informal.
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an intense but usually short-lived infatuation with someone.
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the object of such an infatuation.
Who's your latest crush?
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verb phrase
idioms
verb
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to press, mash, or squeeze so as to injure, break, crease, etc
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to break or grind (rock, ore, etc) into small particles
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to put down or subdue, esp by force
to crush a rebellion
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to extract (juice, water, etc) by pressing
to crush the juice from a lemon
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to oppress harshly
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to hug or clasp tightly
he crushed her to him
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to defeat or humiliate utterly, as in argument or by a cruel remark
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(intr) to crowd; throng
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(intr) to become injured, broken, or distorted by pressure
noun
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a dense crowd, esp at a social occasion
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the act of crushing; pressure
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a drink or pulp prepared by or as if by crushing fruit
orange crush
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informal
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an infatuation
she had a crush on him
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the person with whom one is infatuated
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noun
Synonym Usage
See break.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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crushabilitynoun
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crushernoun
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crushableadjective
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uncrushableadjective
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uncrushedadjective
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well-crushedadjective
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crushablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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crushsimple
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crushessimple
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have crushedperfect
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has crushedperfect
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am crushingprogressive
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are crushingprogressive
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is crushingprogressive
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have been crushingperfect progressive
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has been crushingperfect progressive
Past
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crushedsimple
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had crushedperfect
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was crushingprogressive
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were crushingprogressive
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had been crushingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of crush
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English cruschen, crusshen, from Middle French croi(s)sir, cruisir “to gnash one's teeth, make a crashing or cracking sound, crackle, rustle, smash,” Medieval Latin cruscīre “to crackle,” from Germanic; compare Gothic kriustan “to crunch, grind,” Old Swedish krusa, krosa “to crush,” krȳsta “to gnash (one's teeth),” Middle Low German krossen “to crush”
Explanation
When you crush something, you break it into tiny pieces or crumple it. If you crush the cans in your recycling bin, you'll make more room for more. A train can crush a car that's stalled on the tracks, and a person can crush an insect between her fingers. A figurative meaning of crush is to subdue or stop, like when a military dictator's forces crush a rebel uprising. You can also use crush as a noun to mean "an overwhelming number," like a crush of bodies on a packed subway car, or to describe infatuation, like your crush on your attractive neighbor, who also can be called your crush.
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“The fact that the entire car didn’t just concertina and crush us is down to the design of that car, which is frankly astonishing.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
One widely discussed explanation is that the intense pressure at greater depths would crush the air spaces used by insects for breathing.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
Forces regularly launch crackdowns where they seize illegally used devices, and often crush them.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
“Night Nurse” is as flirty and fleeting as a high school crush — intense enough to make an impact but staked more on possibility than actual sensation.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
“You could train with him and still crush him,” she points out.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
If the Jacobian determinant is always a constant number that is not zero, then the function never folds or crushes space around a particular point.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
“LLY crushes expectations,” wrote RBC Capital Markets analyst Trung Huynh, describing the company’s second-quarter performance to investors.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
Max Muncy crushes a two-run home run and Roki Sasaki showcases his velocity in the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory over the New York Yankees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
But authorities will also want the event to go smoothly, deeply aware of the risk of crowd crushes, which have marred similar events in the past, with TV broadcasting guidelines on how to stay safe.
From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 2026
She was there for your first crushes and heartbreaks, your party dresses and spins at sophisticated states like anomie.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
A January integration deal between Damascus and the Kurdish administration crushed Kurdish aspirations for self-rule and still raises concerns for many from the minority group.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
The Supreme Court case arose from one such tragedy: a five-year-old boy crushed by a truck while walking to school with his father.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
They hired a crew to jackhammer away much of the concrete and replace it with crushed black lava rock from C&M Topsoil.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
When crushed, the material closely resembles lunar dust.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026
The story went that some hero had killed a giant nearby, and as the monster fell to the ground, one of its hands crushed a few acres of trees, clearing room for the town.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
With sentiment so strongly against the plans, a damning statement from Fifa's respected chief operating officer Kevin Lamour would have been a crushing blow.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
A good student back home, Spain to him means "freedom" and a chance to escape Morocco's crushing unemployment.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
In my experience, finding the will and strength to carry those loads and push through crushing exhaustion are more about not wanting to let down the man to your left and right.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Major cities throughout the States have seen crushing drops in Canadian tourism and business it affords to costly enterprises like ski resorts.
From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2026
He held a beat-up fishing hat in his hands, crushing it in his trembling fingers.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
