crumple
Americanverb (used with object)
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to press or crush into irregular folds or into a compact mass; bend out of shape; rumple; wrinkle.
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to cause to collapse or give way suddenly.
That right hook to the midsection crumpled him.
verb (used without object)
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to contract into wrinkles; shrink; shrivel.
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to give way suddenly; collapse.
The bridge crumpled under the weight of the heavy trucks.
noun
verb
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to collapse or cause to collapse
his courage crumpled
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to crush or cause to be crushed so as to form wrinkles or creases
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(intr) to shrink; shrivel
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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crumplesimple
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crumplessimple
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have crumpledperfect
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has crumpledperfect
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am crumplingprogressive
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are crumplingprogressive
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is crumplingprogressive
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have been crumplingperfect progressive
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has been crumplingperfect progressive
Past
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crumpledsimple
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had crumpledperfect
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was crumplingprogressive
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were crumplingprogressive
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had been crumplingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of crumple
1400–50; late Middle English; variant of crimple
Explanation
Crumple is a verb that means to become wrinkled or creased. Your face might crumple over time as you age, or you might crumple a piece of paper before tossing it in the trash. Crumple comes from the Old English word crump meaning "bent, crooked," and it can describe something that has buckled or collapsed. If you're jumping up and down on a cardboard box, it'll eventually crumple under your weight and fold in on itself. Make sure you don't confuse crumple with the similar looking crumble, which means to break apart into small fragments. If you crumple something, it stays in one piece — it's just wrinkled or folded.
Vocabulary lists containing crumple
Number the Stars
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Purple Hibiscus
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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:
They were at work when the quakes struck, causing high-rise apartment buildings, shopping centers and schools to crumple.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
To wrap a basketball, for example, you’d need to crumple the paper in a horrible mess or cut many pieces and tape them together with unsightly overlaps.
From Slate ● Jan. 21, 2026
His adversaries think he’ll crumple like yesterday’s broadsheet when they turn him away, and are perturbed to realize he’s more like the human equivalent of tissue hanging onto the heel of a shoe.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2025
Even if voters crumple up and toss the congressional maps Yee and others drafted, none felt as though their labors were wasted.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2025
I stuff the stapled sheets deeper inside my book bag, wincing as the papers crumple.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
If people and institutions and businesses and government stand up to him, he crumples.
From Slate ● Jan. 23, 2026
A piercing scream erupts in the crowd; a woman’s face crumples and flutters, like a paper mask about to disintegrate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2023
His forehead crumples as he does so and his big hands shake.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2023
The situation is akin to a car that crumples in a crash: the vehicle absorbs the impact to protect passengers, but it is totaled.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 22, 2023
Trub crumples up the bag of trash and aims for the garbage can a few feet away.
From "Dragons in a Bag" by Zetta Elliott
On Tuesday morning, rescuers at the ruins of what had been a neighbourhood grocery, resumed efforts to recover two store employees who were inside when the building crumpled.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
More recently, I tidied the home of a friend who was in the hospital, the pill bottles and crumpled blankets left in situ as evidence of someone else’s pain.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
As the lava cooled and contracted, it folded and crumpled, producing uneven features known as 'wrinkle ridges'.
From Science Daily ● May 15, 2026
All they found was a crumpled bag of chips.
From Salon ● May 12, 2026
Penelope crumpled the useless form behind her back.
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
Videos posted to social media and verified by AFP on Monday showed the catastrophic collapse of a shopping centre in General Santos, and an unoccupied school building crumpling.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
For a thrilling moment, the movie is a platonic rom-com about two dissatisfied artists coming together from opposite directions: Danny crumpling under mass scrutiny, Rick weary of obscurity.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
Whether he was laughing, brooding or crumpling into sobs to create one of the most well-known and widely circulated meme GIFs of all time, Van Der Beek’s expressive appeal propelled him to virtually overnight superstardom.
From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2026
"Knowing my son ended up like this, I'm inconsolable, I'm filled with grief," U Hla Aung said, his face crumpling into a sob.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2025
I made it nearly a quarter mile before the darkness and my dazzled vision betrayed me and I ran headlong into a horse tether, crumpling to the ground in a painful heap.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
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.
