rumple

American  

[ruhm-puhl] / ˈrʌm pəl /

verb (used with object)

rumpled, rumpling

1. to crumple or crush into wrinkles.

   to rumple a sheet of paper.

   Synonyms:

   muss, crease, wrinkle

2. to ruffle; tousle (sometimes followed byup ).

   The wind rumpled her hair.

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verb (used without object)

rumpled, rumpling

1. to become wrinkled or crumpled.

   Tissue rumples easily.

noun

1. a wrinkle or irregular fold; crease.

rumple British  

/ ˈrʌmpəl /

verb

1. to make or become wrinkled, crumpled, ruffled, or dishevelled

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noun

1. a wrinkle, fold, or crease

Other Word Forms

• rumply adjective
• unrumpled adjective

Etymology

Origin of rumple

1595–1605; < Dutch rompelen (v.), rompel (noun)

Explanation

To mess something up or disarrange it is to rumple it. Even if you make your bed neatly in the morning, your dog might jump up and rumple it as soon as you leave for school. When you take something smooth or neat and make it wrinkled or crumpled, you rumple it. A dad might have the annoying habit of always wanting to rumple his son's perfectly combed hair, for example. And if you fall asleep in your tuxedo, you'll rumple it too. Experts think that rumple started as a variation on the now-obsolete verb rimple, "to wrinkle."

Example Sentences

So I take off my makeup, rumple my hair and go to the supermarket in sweats.

From New York Times • Nov. 30, 2022

On a blue two-seater sofa, a tiny head and bony freckled hands emerge from the loose rumple of a red and black Chinese silk shirt.

From Time • Oct. 10, 2016

In Sonnet 73, “That time of year thou mayest in me behold,” there is a cognitive rumple as eventful as any I know in poetry.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 23, 2016

His hair is frequently rumpled, but there’s not enough of it to rumple in the fashion of Donald Trump.

From Washington Times • Jan. 21, 2016

Through the windshield, I saw Rocco rumple Aaron’s hair.

From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin

Related Words

• derange
• dishevel