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:
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
Putin himself has given little sign he is feeling under pressure, telling journalists earlier this month: "I have no doubt that the enemy will crumble."
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
But in the months since, his pageant dreams have begun to crumble.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
I felt things start to crumble inside me.
From "The Honest Truth" by Dan Gemeinhart
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
The toasted sourdough crumbles, more ice shavings than proper pucks, also lowered the score.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Top it with sliced olives, flaky salt, and crumbles of blue cheese if you’re feeling ambitious.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 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
The building’s bottom half crumbles right, toward the Sands of Asase, and its top half falls to the left—toward the gargantuan swirling portal below.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
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
The 33-year-old says his "entire world crumbled from a phone call" when he was told his eight-year-old daughter had fallen at her school in Rhondda Cynon Taf.
From BBC ● 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
She pulled a piece of biscotto from her backpack, crumbled it up, and threw it on the ground.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
While he said "not all" French schools were crumbling, he promised further investment in education, adding: "If we need to do more, we'll have to see."
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
As part of his preparations for the series, Bartlett went on a photo-taking expedition through Seattle and Tacoma, collecting imagery of Pacific Northwest grunge to share with his artists: crumbling walls, fire escapes, water towers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Protesters are demanding the government boost spending on the education system by fixing crumbling infrastructure, reducing class sizes and hiring new teachers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 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
Molly refused to look back at the crumbling auditorium around them and joined the others.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
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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.
