bone-crushing
Americanadjective
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powerful or constricting enough to crush one's bones.
a bone-crushing handshake.
-
extremely painful, troublesome, costly, etc..
a bone-crushing mortgage.
Etymology
Origin of bone-crushing
First recorded in 1670–80
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.
Its long, shallow skull indicates it lacked the bone-crushing bite strength of T. rex.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 24, 2025
Rather than the deep bone-crushing jaws of an adult T. rex, the lower jaw of the reservoir specimen looked more slender.
From New York Times ● Jan. 11, 2024
Based on fossilized poop and gnawed bones, researchers know adults used their bone-crushing teeth to eat large plant-eating dinos the size of an African elephant, such as Triceratops and duck-billed dinosaurs.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 7, 2023
Players quickly bonded with RJ, who stands 6-foot-3 and grins while giving monster hugs and bone-crushing handshakes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2023
Irwin greeted newcomers with bone-crushing handshakes and tooth-shattering back-slaps.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
