crush

American  

[kruhsh] / krʌʃ /

verb (used with object)

• crushes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• crushed,
  past participle,  past
• crushing
  present participle

1. to press or squeeze with a force that destroys or deforms.

   Synonyms:

   rumple, crumple

2. to squeeze or pound into small fragments or particles, as ore, stone, etc.

   Synonyms:

   crumble, mash, powder, pulverize

3. to force out by pressing or squeezing; extract.

   to crush cottonseeds in order to produce oil.

4. to rumple; wrinkle; crease.

5. to smooth or flatten by pressure.

   to crush leather.

6. to hug or embrace forcibly or strongly.

   He crushed her in his arms.

7. to destroy, subdue, or suppress utterly.

   to crush a revolt.

   Synonyms:

   quash, overcome, quell

8. to overwhelm with confusion, chagrin, or humiliation, as by argumentation or a slighting action or remark; squelch.

9. to oppress grievously.

10. Archaic. to finish drinking (wine, ale, etc.).

---

verb (used without object)

• crushes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• crushed,
  past participle,  past
• crushing
  present participle

1. to become crushed.

2. to advance with crushing; press or crowd forcibly.

noun

• crushes
  plural

1. the act of crushing; state of being crushed.

2. a great crowd.

   a crush of shoppers.

3. Informal.

   1. an intense but usually short-lived infatuation with someone.

   2. the object of such an infatuation.

      Who's your latest crush?

verb phrase

1. crush on to have an infatuation with; have a crush on.

   She’s been crushing on him for a year.

idioms

1. crush it, to do something very well and with enthusiasm.

crush ¹ British  

/ krʌʃ /

verb

1. to press, mash, or squeeze so as to injure, break, crease, etc

2. to break or grind (rock, ore, etc) into small particles

3. to put down or subdue, esp by force

   to crush a rebellion

4. to extract (juice, water, etc) by pressing

   to crush the juice from a lemon

5. to oppress harshly

6. to hug or clasp tightly

   he crushed her to him

7. to defeat or humiliate utterly, as in argument or by a cruel remark

8. (intr) to crowd; throng

9. (intr) to become injured, broken, or distorted by pressure

---

noun

1. a dense crowd, esp at a social occasion

2. the act of crushing; pressure

3. a drink or pulp prepared by or as if by crushing fruit

   orange crush

4. informal

   1. an infatuation

      she had a crush on him

   2. the person with whom one is infatuated

crush ² British  

/ krʌʃ /

noun

1. vet science a construction designed to confine and limit the movement of an animal, esp a large or dangerous animal, for examination or to perform a procedure on it

---

crush More Idioms  

1. see have a crush on.

---

Synonym Usage

See break.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• crushability
  noun
• crusher
  noun
• crushable
  adjective
• uncrushable
  adjective
• uncrushed
  adjective
• well-crushed
  adjective
• crushably
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• crushes
  plural

Participles

• crushing
  present
• crushed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• crush
  simple
• crushes
  simple
• have crushed
  perfect
• has crushed
  perfect
• am crushing
  progressive
• are crushing
  progressive
• is crushing
  progressive
• have been crushing
  perfect progressive
• has been crushing
  perfect progressive

Past

• crushed
  simple
• had crushed
  perfect
• was crushing
  progressive
• were crushing
  progressive
• had been crushing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will crush
  simple
• will have crushed
  perfect
• will be crushing
  progressive
• will have been crushing
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

crush crushes crushed crushing

“It is objectively fun to have a little internet crush, and let that person be the senior senator from Georgia.”

From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026

Johnson said: "That you had a crush on him."

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

The surge in Moderna and other biotech stocks helped crush the momentum trade.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

This is his best friend and probably his crush, and he’d never want to hurt anyone, so why is he still in the room?

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026

Gia smiled, then used her marvel to crush the perfume bottle on the counter.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

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

The practice allows them to build a presence in the ring that crushes their opponents harder than a suplex.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026

"It's not only humiliating and devastating and shattering – it also just crushes your soul," Jane said.

From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2026

But if I'm honest, it's more than affection—this is how I used to feel about my literary crushes.

From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins

Firefighters in Kanagawa prefecture said they received a call from a man who reported his house had been crushed by a landslide.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

“It crushed us all,” said Tim Lynn, a now-retired helicopter pilot and reporter who flew for 16 years for KTLA-TV.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

That is an astonishing reversal from Berkshire’s glory days during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s when it crushed the overall market by a wide margin.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

"Second, if I did, I would have gotten crushed because I didn't have a why."

From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026

A force stronger than his own will had to intervene, like the car that had crushed his knee and put him in a wheelchair in 1988.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

Slipping into survival mode, going through the motions without feeling the crushing weight of the reality of a situation, can be an adaptive response when you’re in the middle of a crisis.

From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026

Tyrone is known for its cluster of engineering and manufacturing firms and today more than 40% of the world's mobile crushing and screening equipment is made in the Mid Ulster area.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

It seems like McKinley wants to deliver a crushing blow, but then feints at the last minute, opting for a more optimistic kind of fantasy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

The emergence of industrial crushing in the 1910s transformed the crop.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

The sounds of the ice grinding and crushing, creaking and cracking, filled the cold, damp air all around them.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

Related Words

• annihilate
• beat
• defeat
• demolish
• kill
• overcome
• overpower
• overwhelm
• quell
• ruin
• squelch
• stamp out
• strangle
• subdue
• suppress
• vanquish
• wreck