bone-crushing

[bohn-kruhsh-ing]

adjective

1. powerful or constricting enough to crush one's bones.

   a bone-crushing handshake.

2. extremely painful, troublesome, costly, etc..

   a bone-crushing mortgage.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bone-crushing¹

First recorded in 1670–80

Example Sentences

She rushes forward and pulls me in a bone-crushing hug.

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Bone-crushing hugs must be genetic.

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Its long, shallow skull indicates it lacked the bone-crushing bite strength of T. rex.

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In the real world, no human could survive the unimaginable heat and bone-crushing pressure, even if there were a vehicle capable of tunneling to the core, Vidale said.

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Rather than the deep bone-crushing jaws of an adult T. rex, the lower jaw of the reservoir specimen looked more slender.

Read more on New York Times