crumble

American  

[kruhm-buhl] / ˈkrʌm bəl /

verb (used with object)

• crumbles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• crumbled,
  past participle,  past
• crumbling
  present participle

1. to break into small fragments or crumbs.

   Synonyms:

   shatter, mash

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verb (used without object)

• crumbles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• crumbled,
  past participle,  past
• crumbling
  present participle

1. to fall into small pieces; break or part into small fragments.

   Synonyms:

   disintegrate

2. to decay or disintegrate gradually.

   The ancient walls had crumbled.

noun

• crumbles
  plural

1. a crumbly or crumbled substance.

2. crumbles, bits of crisp bacon, bread, etc., added to other foods, especially as a topping.

3. British Dialect. crumb; particle; fragment.

crumble British  

/ ˈkrʌmbəl /

verb

1. to break or be broken into crumbs or fragments

2. (intr) to fall apart or away

   his resolution crumbled

---

noun

1. a baked pudding consisting of a crumbly mixture of flour, fat, and sugar over stewed fruit

   apple crumble

crumble Idioms  

1. see that's how the ball bounces (cookie crumbles).

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• crumblingness
  noun
• half-crumbled
  adjective
• uncrumbled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• crumbles
  plural

Participles

• crumbling
  present
• crumbled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• crumble
  simple
• crumbles
  simple
• have crumbled
  perfect
• has crumbled
  perfect
• am crumbling
  progressive
• are crumbling
  progressive
• is crumbling
  progressive
• have been crumbling
  perfect progressive
• has been crumbling
  perfect progressive

Past

• crumbled
  simple
• had crumbled
  perfect
• was crumbling
  progressive
• were crumbling
  progressive
• had been crumbling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will crumble
  simple
• will have crumbled
  perfect
• will be crumbling
  progressive
• will have been crumbling
  perfect progressive

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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

crumble crumbles crumbled crumbling

But in the months since, his pageant dreams have begun to crumble.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

A financial plan built for age 90 may crumble if a person lives to 110.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 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

Then, just as he was nearing the top, a piece of rock he had gripped in his left hand began to crumble in his fingers.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

Cake crumbles, graham-cracker crust toppings and star-spangled sprinkles are a whole other challenge.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

But it’s now clear that once you abandon all restraint and say the ends justify the means, even if there’s an argument for it, the whole legal edifice crumbles.

From Salon ● Jun. 4, 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

And that brings us to another issue - the lack of a plan B if the line crumbles again.

From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2026

Reading the poet Ovid, I learned that no one can resist love, for water wears the sharpest stone smooth, and even the hardest ground at last crumbles before the plow.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

The planters are original to the stadium’s 1962 construction, and many had crumbled badly enough over the decades to need painstaking repair.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

At her previous tournament in Toronto, she lost to Russian world number 19 Ekaterina Alexandrova in the last 16 as her serve crumbled.

From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026

There were scenes of destruction in several cities, including Manizales, where the tower of a beloved neo-Gothic cathedral crumbled.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

I crumbled some of the cornbread into olive oil and toasted it in a skillet.

From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026

Now, with roads blocked and crumbled, it would take days for any help to come from the outside.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

Elsewhere in Miami, prominent Cuban-Americans are mapping out a provisional government, recruiting engineers to study floating power stations, and strategizing on repairs to the island’s crumbling infrastructure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

The steady decrease in quality is unmistakable, and it’s perfectly conceivable that even a day-one Marvel enthusiast would feel the facade crumbling at some point.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026

The retirement myth of endless golf games or fishing trips melting into decades of elder bliss has been crumbling for decades.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026

Though Sharpeville may be a place name rich in historical resonance, it scarcely looks like a site that symbolises the struggle: the township is slowly crumbling.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

With my toes, I scuffed at the crumbling concrete wall of the bridge.

From "The Bridge Home" by Padma Venkatraman

Related Words

• break up
• collapse
• crush
• decay
• degenerate
• deteriorate
• disintegrate
• dissolve
• grind
• tumble