- 1[intransitive, transitive] to break or break something into very small pieces Rice flour makes the cake less likely to crumble. crumble something Crumble the cheese over the salad. Vocabulary Buildingwords that mean “break”
- burstThe balloon hit a tree and burst.
- crackThe ice started to crack.
- crumbleCrumble the cheese into a bowl.
- cutNow cut the wire in two.
- fractureHe fell and fractured his hip.
- shatterThe glass hit the floor and shattered.
- smashVandals had smashed the car's windshield.
- snapI snapped the pencil in half.
- splitThe cushion split open and sent feathers everywhere.
- tearShe tore the letter into pieces.
- All these verbs, except cut, can be used with or without an object.
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- 2[intransitive] if a building or piece of land is crumbling, parts of it are breaking off buildings crumbling into dust crumbling stonework The cliff is gradually crumbling away. They live in a crumbling old mansion.
- 3[intransitive] to begin to fail or get weaker or to come to an end a crumbling business/relationship crumble away All his hopes began to crumble away. crumble into/to something The empire finally crumbled into dust. Idioms
crumble
verbNAmE//ˈkrʌmbl//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they crumble he / she / it crumbles
past simple crumbled
-ing form crumbling
that is the situation and we cannot change it, so we must accept it
Check pronunciation: crumble