crash

¹ American  

[krash] / kræʃ /

verb (used without object)

• crashes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• crashed,
  past participle,  past
• crashing
  present participle

1. to make a loud, clattering noise, as of something dashed to pieces.

2. to break or fall to pieces with noise.

3. (of moving vehicles, objects, etc.) to collide, especially violently and noisily.

4. to move or go with a crash; strike with a crash.

5. Aeronautics. to land in an abnormal manner, usually causing severe damage.

   The airliner crashed.

6. to collapse or fail suddenly, as a financial enterprise.

   The stock market crashed.

7. Informal. to gain admittance to a party, performance, etc., without an invitation, ticket, or permission.

8. Slang.

   1. to sleep.

   2. to have a temporary place to sleep or live without payment.

      He let me crash at his house.

   3. to fall asleep.

      I get home in the evening and I just crash till it's time for dinner.

9. Slang. to experience unpleasant sensations, as sudden exhaustion or depression, when a drug, especially an amphetamine, wears off.

10. Medicine/Medical Slang. to suffer cardiac arrest.

11. Ecology. (of a population) to decline rapidly.

12. Computers. to shut down because of a malfunction of hardware or software.

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verb (used with object)

• crashes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• crashed,
  past participle,  past
• crashing
  present participle

1. to break into pieces violently and noisily; shatter.

   Synonyms:

   smash, break

2. to force or drive with violence and noise (usually followed by in, through, out, etc.).

3. Aeronautics. to cause (an aircraft) to make a landing in an abnormal manner, usually damaging or wrecking the aircraft.

4. Informal.

   1. to gain admittance to, even though uninvited.

      to crash a party.

   2. to enter without a ticket, permission, etc..

      to crash the gate at a football game.

noun

1. a sudden loud noise, as of something being violently smashed or struck.

   the crash of thunder.

2. a breaking or falling to pieces with loud noise.

   the sudden crash of dishes.

3. a collision or crashing, as of automobiles, trains, etc.

4. the shock of collision and breaking.

5. a sudden and violent falling to ruin.

   Synonyms:

   ruin, failure

6. a sudden general collapse of a business enterprise, prosperity, the stock market, etc..

   the crash of 1929.

7. Aeronautics. an act or instance of crashing.

8. Ecology. a sudden, rapid decline in the size of a population.

adjective

1. characterized by an intensive effort, especially to deal with an emergency, meet a deadline, etc..

   a crash plan to house flood victims; a crash diet.

crash ² American  

[krash] / kræʃ /

noun

1. a plain-weave fabric of rough, irregular, or lumpy yarns, for toweling, dresses, etc.

2. Bookbinding. starched cotton fabric used to reinforce the spine of a bound book.

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crash ¹ British  

/ kræʃ /

verb

1. to make or cause to make a loud noise as of solid objects smashing or clattering

2. to fall or cause to fall with force, breaking in pieces with a loud noise as of solid objects smashing

3. (intr) to break or smash in pieces with a loud noise

4. (intr) to collapse or fail suddenly

   this business is sure to crash

5. to cause (an aircraft) to hit land or water violently resulting in severe damage or (of an aircraft) to hit land or water in this way

6. to cause (a car, etc) to collide with another car or other object or (of two or more cars) to be involved in a collision

7. to move or cause to move violently or noisily

   to crash through a barrier

8. informal short for gate-crash

9. (intr) (of a computer system or program) to fail suddenly and completely because of a malfunction

10. slang (intr) another term for crash out

11. informal to fail; be unsuccessful

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noun

1. an act or instance of breaking and falling to pieces

2. a sudden loud noise

   the crash of thunder

3. a collision, as between vehicles

4. a sudden descent of an aircraft as a result of which it hits land or water

5. the sudden collapse of a business, stock exchange, etc, esp one causing further financial failure

6. (modifier)

   1. requiring or using intensive effort and all possible resources in order to accomplish something quickly

      a crash programme

   2. sudden or vigorous

      a crash halt

      a crash tackle

7. informal a complete failure

crash ² British  

/ kræʃ /

noun

1. a coarse cotton or linen cloth used for towelling, curtains, etc

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• crasher
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• crashing
  present
• crashed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• crash
  simple
• crashes
  simple
• have crashed
  perfect
• has crashed
  perfect
• am crashing
  progressive
• are crashing
  progressive
• is crashing
  progressive
• have been crashing
  perfect progressive
• has been crashing
  perfect progressive

Past

• crashed
  simple
• had crashed
  perfect
• was crashing
  progressive
• were crashing
  progressive
• had been crashing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will crash
  simple
• will have crashed
  perfect
• will be crashing
  progressive
• will have been crashing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of crash¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; 1920–25 crash ¹ for def. 16; 1870–75 crash ¹ for def. 22; Middle English crasche, blend of crase “to break” and masche “to crush, pulp”; see origin at craze, mash ¹

Origin of crash²

First recorded in 1805–15; probably from Russian krashenína “painted or dyed coarse linen,” equivalent to kráshenyĭ “painted” (past participle of krásit' “to paint”) + -ina noun suffix

Explanation

Boom! Bam! Pow! A crash is when two things collide, or smash, into each other. Crash and smash have similar meanings and sounds. You can start to worry when you hear the word crash. Many people die in car and airplane crashes every year. Other crashes are less physical yet just as bad. In a stock-market crash, a lot of people lose a lot of money. You can also use crash as a verb. You'd better not crash your bike into the coffee shop window! If your computer crashes, you will probably lose all the data in it.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

crash crashes crashed crashing

The ambulance was transporting a seriously injured patient at the time of the crash, authorities said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

The safety board's investigators have recovered the flight recorders to analyse the conditions leading up to the crash.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

A serving police officer has denied causing the death of a 16-year-old boy in a crash involving an electric bike and two cars.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

Plus, Houthi militants expand control near a strategic Red Sea chokepoint, and the Amazon plane crash is putting a spotlight on freight carrier 21 Air.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

This is the part where I am most likely to crash, where I am most likely to be unsuccessful.

From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga

Other base-related woes, from pollution to noise and helicopter crashes, have led to further complaints.

From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026

The federal agency, which investigates all air crashes in the US, plans to hold a news conference on Monday.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

A parade of safety lapses has included two fatal airline crashes, as well as a door-plug blowout during an Alaska Airlines flight in 2024.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Car crashes are common in Egypt, and often blamed on reckless driving, poor maintenance and uneven law enforcement.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

My heart crashes to the floor, like my trombone slide.

From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari

When the World Trade Center towers crashed to the ground 25 years ago, they triggered a seismic wave that seemed to smash the world order.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

An investigation was launched in July when a drone crashed into a garden in Darlington.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

Moments later he got another call from his wife telling him that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center, and that not much else was known.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Flight 93 had already crashed in Pennsylvania, although they didn’t know it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

We’d taken a detour past all right and crashed head-on into my-life-is-officially-over territory.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

An Amazon cargo plane overshot the runway at Miami International Airport a week ago, crashing into nearby vehicles and skidding to a stop 1,300 feet past the runway with its right engine on fire.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

In video footage obtained by KABC, waves could be seen crashing onto the rocks below the house.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

Scrum pressure forced New Zealand replacement Fletcher Newell to his knees, the Springboks punted the resulting penalty into the 22m and a monster maul rumbled infield and forward with Marx crashing over.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

It’s like a freaky evolution of the human-mishap extravaganzas that progressed from “America’s Funniest Home Videos” to “Jackass” to subreddits like Whatcouldgowrong to viral clips crashing my algorithm.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

On this night, there was no sea spray, no breeze, no crashing waves.

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown

Related Words

• bump
• collapse
• collide
• ditch
• dive
• drop
• hurtle
• meet
• overturn
• plunge
• slip
• smash
• topple
• tumble