crumble
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
-
to fall into small pieces; break or part into small fragments.
- Synonyms:
- disintegrate
-
to decay or disintegrate gradually.
The ancient walls had crumbled.
noun
-
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:
Because the enzymes worked in sequence, the material did not simply crumble into smaller plastic fragments.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
Venezuela's interim leader declared a state of emergency Wednesday as two massive earthquakes caused buildings in the capital to crumble and forced the closure of the country's main airport.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
Willow, Xander and the rest of the Sunnydale Scoobies discover in the show’s sixth season, the world starts to crumble around them.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026
That’s reductive — the cookie doesn’t crumble quite so.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
I didn't turn around, because I couldn't be sure my face wouldn't crumble.
From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely
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
"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
"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
Behind her, the isle she was originally standing on now crumbles into pieces.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
When an examiner estimated that these transfers may have defrauded Caesars of $5 billion, the original proposal crumbled and the disfavored creditors secured a far better deal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 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
Lisbeth Portillo, 58, was lying on a bed in a second-floor room shared with 16 other women when the building crumbled.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Serve hot with crumbled Cotija cheese, sour cream, guacamole and pico de gallo.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
But the two most important pillars of evidence against Hale—the confessions of Burkhart and Ramsey—had crumbled.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
In 2022, Human Rights Watch reported that New Bell was housing 4,700 prisoners within its crumbling walls - four times its capacity.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
It’s harder when you’ve lived a longer life and things are built in a certain way and it’s hard to have that crumbling down.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
As their impatience grows, the window for Odysseus to reclaim his kingdom and restore a crumbling world to Zeus’ law — essentially open-hearted hospitality and treating others as you’d be treated — is closing.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
An Italian court is set to rule Thursday in the case of a bridge collapse eight years ago which killed 43 people and shone a spotlight on Italy's crumbling infrastructure.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
And some of them are old and crumbling, back all the way to the Civil War, pensions for the last remaining widows on the Union side.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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.
