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Definition of "crumple" [crum•ple]

  • To crush together or press into wrinkles; rumple. (verb-transitive)
  • To cause to collapse. (verb-transitive)
  • To become wrinkled. (verb-intransitive)
  • To collapse: a regime that finally crumpled. (verb-intransitive)
  • An irregular fold, crease, or wrinkle. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "crumple" in a sentence
  • "Then suddenly I saw her eyes break, her expression crumple, her mouth drop open in a moan, and she flung her arms around me and pulled my head against her breast."
  • "God, who wants us killed, who will beat us until we "crumple" on his"
  • "Plastic deformation ie mountian building, folding etc... is generally a precursor to the breaking of the rocks that is the fualting and thus the earthquake inducement and you measure this in strain rates which shows that for the middle of the 'crumple' zone or mountian ridge like the apanines in Italy the rate of deformation how fast its folding up is faster than that at the edges."