crumble
Americanverb (used with object)
-
crumbles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
crumbled,
past participle, past
-
crumbling
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
crumbles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
crumbled,
past participle, past
-
crumbling
present participle
-
to fall into small pieces; break or part into small fragments.
- Synonyms:
- disintegrate
-
to decay or disintegrate gradually.
The ancient walls had crumbled.
noun
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crumbles
plural
-
a crumbly or crumbled substance.
-
crumbles, bits of crisp bacon, bread, etc., added to other foods, especially as a topping.
-
British Dialect. crumb; particle; fragment.
verb
-
to break or be broken into crumbs or fragments
-
(intr) to fall apart or away
his resolution crumbled
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
crumblesimple
-
crumblessimple
-
have crumbledperfect
-
has crumbledperfect
-
am crumblingprogressive
-
are crumblingprogressive
-
is crumblingprogressive
-
have been crumblingperfect progressive
-
has been crumblingperfect progressive
Past
-
crumbledsimple
-
had crumbledperfect
-
was crumblingprogressive
-
were crumblingprogressive
-
had been crumblingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of crumble
1375–1425; earlier crymble, crimble; late Middle English kremelen, akin to crome crumb; see -le
Explanation
To crumble is to come apart into tiny pieces. If the doughnuts you bring to work crumble before you get there, you co-workers will have nothing but crumbs to snack on. Baked goods seem to crumble easily, but other things tend to crumble too: old houses, over time; sand castles; fragile ruins; and art objects made from clay. Anything that falls apart, especially into small bits, can be said to crumble. The root of the word is the Old English gecrymman, "to break into crumbs," which in turn comes from cruma, "crumb or fragment."
Vocabulary lists containing crumble
Bud, Not Buddy
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Words to Know Before You Defrost the Bird
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Going Down: Synonyms for "Fall"
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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:
But in the months since, his pageant dreams have begun to crumble.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Yet even the best projections can crumble if, say, a parent loses a high-paying job or diverts money from their own retirement account to fund a 529 plan.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026
Because the enzymes worked in sequence, the material did not simply crumble into smaller plastic fragments.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
"I couldn't believe the effect it had on the concrete. It just disintegrates. You can crumble it in your fingers - it almost turns to dust."
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
Next, we had tried the floor, but after a few hours of sitting, my back felt like it was ready to crumble.
From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken
Top it with sliced olives, flaky salt, and crumbles of blue cheese if you’re feeling ambitious.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
Cake crumbles, graham-cracker crust toppings and star-spangled sprinkles are a whole other challenge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
It’s not like it used to be, back in the bad old days of crumbles and collapses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2026
"The irony is now we're just studying a regular comet and it crumbles in front of our eyes," said principal investigator Dennis Bodewits, also a professor in Auburn University's Department of Physics.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 21, 2026
My body crumbles as I fall out of my seat and lunge toward the door, landing at Suma’s feet.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
The hypocrisy of not paying athletes exasperated jurists all the way to the Supreme Court, and the old cabal crumbled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
But the shipbuilding industry crumbled rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s, and Tate & Lyle shut the final Greenock sugar refinery in 1997.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Top each generously with chèvre — crumbled if firm, dolloped if soft and spreadable — and about ¼ cup of the crisp cornbread crumbs.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
The celebrations turned deadly around midnight in the town of Ciudad Rodrigo in the west, after a fountain crumbled under the weight of supporters who had climbed onto it.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
From her medicine pouch she took some dried yarrow leaves, and crumbled them in her palm.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
A few crumbling concrete blocks in an overgrown field are all that remains visible of what was once a sprawling Nazi forced labour complex around the Austrian town of Leobersdorf.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
"We will not allow any nation to determine our future. We will set our own course to keep building Canada strong for all," Carney said Friday, as negotiations for a bilateral trade deal were crumbling.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
The crumbling girls' primary school which he gave me a tour of upsets him because the 62-year-old studied here from 1968 to 1973.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Mountains of uncollected trash fill the streets of the crumbling capital, Havana.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Suddenly the passageway convulsed, the hidden roots of trees sprang up, the ground split beneath Taran, heaving and crumbling.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
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.
