crumple
Americanverb (used with object)
-
crumples,
present (3rd person singular)
-
crumpled,
past participle, past
-
crumpling
present participle
-
to press or crush into irregular folds or into a compact mass; bend out of shape; rumple; wrinkle.
-
to cause to collapse or give way suddenly.
That right hook to the midsection crumpled him.
verb (used without object)
-
crumples,
present (3rd person singular)
-
crumpled,
past participle, past
-
crumpling
present participle
-
to contract into wrinkles; shrink; shrivel.
-
to give way suddenly; collapse.
The bridge crumpled under the weight of the heavy trucks.
noun
verb
-
to collapse or cause to collapse
his courage crumpled
-
to crush or cause to be crushed so as to form wrinkles or creases
-
(intr) to shrink; shrivel
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
crumplesimple
-
crumplessimple
-
have crumpledperfect
-
has crumpledperfect
-
am crumplingprogressive
-
are crumplingprogressive
-
is crumplingprogressive
-
have been crumplingperfect progressive
-
has been crumplingperfect progressive
Past
-
crumpledsimple
-
had crumpledperfect
-
was crumplingprogressive
-
were crumplingprogressive
-
had been crumplingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of crumple
1400–50; late Middle English; variant of crimple
Explanation
Crumple is a verb that means to become wrinkled or creased. Your face might crumple over time as you age, or you might crumple a piece of paper before tossing it in the trash. Crumple comes from the Old English word crump meaning "bent, crooked," and it can describe something that has buckled or collapsed. If you're jumping up and down on a cardboard box, it'll eventually crumple under your weight and fold in on itself. Make sure you don't confuse crumple with the similar looking crumble, which means to break apart into small fragments. If you crumple something, it stays in one piece — it's just wrinkled or folded.
Vocabulary lists containing crumple
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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:
They were at work when the quakes struck, causing high-rise apartment buildings, shopping centers and schools to crumple.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
To wrap a basketball, for example, you’d need to crumple the paper in a horrible mess or cut many pieces and tape them together with unsightly overlaps.
From Slate ● Jan. 21, 2026
Rot and death would spread through their venerable trunks and crumple their limbs — but their roots and stumps, cradled by the continent’s most ancient mountains, lived on in the sandy, acidic Appalachian soil.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2023
Yael and Shachar, at just 11 and 9, have seen such horrors that their small faces crumple into tears again and again.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2023
She’s large, bigger than Bob, but I still have to crumple a few of them.
From "The One and Only Ivan" by Katherine Applegate
If people and institutions and businesses and government stand up to him, he crumples.
From Slate ● Jan. 23, 2026
Bynum keeps the camera on her as Jessie crumples her face in her hands.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2025
Mesut's face crumples into tears and he turns away to compose himself.
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2023
The situation is akin to a car that crumples in a crash: the vehicle absorbs the impact to protect passengers, but it is totaled.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 22, 2023
“Are you kidding me? Thompson wishes he had a career like Laimbeer’s! Thompson has no grit. He crumples in a game like a paper napkin at a barbecue.”
From "Here to Stay" by Sara Farizan
But it also helps us understand why a crumpled sock in the middle of the living room or dirty dishes on the kitchen counter makes the exhausted woman in your life crash out.
From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2026
I didn’t feel any affinity with the humanoid that smashed Bolt’s 100-meter record, but found the robot weightlifter that crumpled under a 15kg barbell and staggered into a table very relatable.
From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026
The look on Joe’s face when we first meet him says a lot about his crumpled ambitions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
On Tuesday morning, rescuers at the ruins of what had been a neighbourhood grocery, resumed efforts to recover two store employees who were inside when the building crumpled.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
My grandmother was sprawled on the floor, her legs crumpled beneath her.
From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm
Videos posted to social media and verified by AFP on Monday showed the catastrophic collapse of a shopping centre in General Santos, and an unoccupied school building crumpling.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
But first, she sobs, crumpling into Samuel’s arms while he holds her close.
From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2024
“I want people to know that we’re just normal people,” Ms. Broadbent, her face crumpling as she fought through tears, told Mr. Johnson.
From New York Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
“Shaq is over there crumpling up paper, that’s why I’m laughing,” Barkley said, with the implication seeming to be that the oft-injured Davis is made of paper.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2023
In Cathair she gasped out loud, crumpling the sheets into her fisted hands.
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
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