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
-
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
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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:
Perhaps inevitably, someone dug them up, handed them to a tabloid and waited for the man to crumble.
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2026
"The coastline flanking the sea arch has shown signs of instability for years," NPS, which warned in 2021 that the arch would eventually crumble, said in a statement.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
His photographs capture not only the movie houses but their ornate facades and decay -- a record of a cultural landscape disappearing as cinemas are demolished, converted into multiplexes or left to crumble.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
Seiler wanted to know whether researchers could recover writing from these carbonized scrolls without physically unrolling them, an action that could cause the brittle papyrus to crumble into black dust.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
Otherwise, in her bear-skin traveling cloak, she looked something like a hill of dirt: dry, brown, ready to crumble in the humidity of the rain forest.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
As sentiment about AI crumbles, Klement said the stock market could fall about 35% — hence his 5,000 target for the S&P 500.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 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
"We watch a weather report and our whole world crumbles around us - it's taken a toll on our health if I'm perfectly honest with you - it's taken over our lives," he said.
From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2026
I touch The ash, and the snake crumbles And won’t bite.
From "Neighborhood Odes" by Gary Soto
That looseness doomed Texas all afternoon long, as a 10-point lead crumbled into their first defeat of the season.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
Prospects of a sequel crumbled in 2019 when the Hollywood Reporter broke news that Lim left the sequel over pay disparity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Sri Lanka lost two wickets without a run on the board and crumbled to 45 all out in less than 10 overs of chaos that included three run-outs.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
The Swedish American Investment Corp. put most of its assets under the sway of Ivar Kreuger, an aggressive dealmaker who later died in an apparent suicide after his business empire crumbled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
His eyes had seen treasures he did not yet possess, and now they crumbled away.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
The reason for the veteran manager's upbeat vibe was because of his players' response after crumbling in the first half of their Europa League loss to Benfica.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
Swarms of selfie-stick wielding tourists pose for pictures among crumbling buildings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
“Angelenos see the results in crumbling streets, buckled sidewalks and streetlights that stay dark,” proponents said in their ballot argument.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
The 27,000 residents that remain in Mene Grande contend with chronic blackouts and crumbling infrastructure, with some of the wells better fit for a museum than a working oil field.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
But what if instead of telling the tourists a bunch of polar bear facts, he also talked about the melting ice and the crumbling permafrost and the momma bears losing their dens?
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
