bone-crushing
Americanadjective
-
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.
She rushes forward and pulls me in a bone-crushing hug.
From Literature
Bone-crushing hugs must be genetic.
From Literature
Its long, shallow skull indicates it lacked the bone-crushing bite strength of T. rex.
From Science Daily
In the real world, no human could survive the unimaginable heat and bone-crushing pressure, even if there were a vehicle capable of tunneling to the core, Vidale said.
From Los Angeles Times
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
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.