as in failing
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Dissimilar Words
1
as in crumpling
to fall down or in as a result of physical pressure
the motel balcony collapsed under the weight of so many people
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in flopping
to be unsuccessful
the legal case collapsed in the face of the opposition's evidence
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in compressing
to reduce in size or volume by or as if by pressing parts or members together
the novel collapses events from four separate trips into one long odyssey
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of collapsing
Mery Mogollón,
Los Angeles Times,
5 July 2026
Unlike straw or lower-grade wool blends, beaver felt can be reworked without collapsing its structure, which is what allows hats to be reshaped by hand rather than stamped out of a mold.
—
Jessica Chapel,
Condé Nast Traveler,
4 July 2026
Protostars are born when patches in vast molecular clouds cool and form clumps, collapsing under their gravity.
—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
3 July 2026
Leaders rooted in love can listen, clarify, learn and continue without collapsing under misunderstanding.
—
Yujia Zhu,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2026
Everything is collapsing around them, but Richie has a plan.
—
Nina Metz,
Chicago Tribune,
26 June 2026
This process is collapsing the filmmaking process into fewer steps, Amazon Web Services’ General Manager of Media and Entertainment Samira Bakhtiar said in an interview.
—
Reed Albergotti,
semafor.com,
26 June 2026
The powerful twin earthquakes have hit Venezuela’s northern coast hard, killing at least 32 people and collapsing dozens of buildings, according to the country’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez.
—
Helen Regan,
CNN Money,
25 June 2026
The other hypothesis theorizes supermassive black hole seeds came from a large gas cloud collapsing, due to its large mass and strong gravity, into a black hole.
—
Mary Ogborn,
The Conversation,
25 June 2026
Verb
The camaraderie was evident on the ground here in La Guaira, the coastal city where quake damage was most severe, collapsing dozens of buildings.
—
Mery Mogollón,
Los Angeles Times,
5 July 2026
Unlike straw or lower-grade wool blends, beaver felt can be reworked without collapsing its structure, which is what allows hats to be reshaped by hand rather than stamped out of a mold.
—
Jessica Chapel,
Condé Nast Traveler,
4 July 2026
Protostars are born when patches in vast molecular clouds cool and form clumps, collapsing under their gravity.
—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
3 July 2026
Leaders rooted in love can listen, clarify, learn and continue without collapsing under misunderstanding.
—
Yujia Zhu,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2026
Everything is collapsing around them, but Richie has a plan.
—
Nina Metz,
Chicago Tribune,
26 June 2026
This process is collapsing the filmmaking process into fewer steps, Amazon Web Services’ General Manager of Media and Entertainment Samira Bakhtiar said in an interview.
—
Reed Albergotti,
semafor.com,
26 June 2026
The powerful twin earthquakes have hit Venezuela’s northern coast hard, killing at least 32 people and collapsing dozens of buildings, according to the country’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez.
—
Helen Regan,
CNN Money,
25 June 2026
The other hypothesis theorizes supermassive black hole seeds came from a large gas cloud collapsing, due to its large mass and strong gravity, into a black hole.
—
Mary Ogborn,
The Conversation,
25 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for collapsing
Adjective
-
The state graded the campus an F for three consecutive years, meaning two more failing grades could trigger an intervention.
Verb
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Moses Moody scored 23 points before crumpling to the floor with an apparently serious left knee injury late in overtime as the Golden State Warriors beat Dallas 137-131 on Monday night, extending the Mavericks' home losing streak to 12 games, their longest in 32 years.
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Late on, with the game already won, James Garner and substitute Merlin Rohl chased Enzo Fernandez, sending him crumpling to the turf.
Verb
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Brown has talked trash about Sixers center Joel Embiid and has accused him of flopping.
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Video shows Neil flopping his blubbery body around on the street, destroying fences and cuddling with traffic cones.
Verb
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Robinson said the best founding teams are also building on top of the tools—running multiple coding agents at once, automating sales outreach and marketing, and compressing internally what used to take months of engineering time into days.
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Footage of civilians scrambling for cover or compressing bullet wounds typically arrives here from overseas.
Adjective
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These are challenges that supposedly don't hit a flat, non-folding display anywhere near as hard.
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Scroll on for more Walmart patio picks, including a folding Adirondack chair under $100, a resort-style pergola, and a classic steel garden bench available in over a dozen colors.
Verb
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News of their leaving sent Google’s shares tumbling more than 5% on Monday.
-
That shows up clearly in the data, with UK goods exports tumbling relative to other major economies since 2016.
Verb
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Trump taking the country to war with Iran, in part at the urging of his pal Bibi — without any sensible plan, debate, sanction from Congress or consideration as to how this might hurt Americans already struggling to make ends meet.
-
The rules were altered in 2004 at the urging of Algeria, which was struggling to field a competitive national team with wholly domestic players and saw dozens of better prospects from the diaspora living in France.
Verb
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Of course, attempts to get more revenue out of taxpayers would carry political risks, but voters have been open to squeezing the wealthy.
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Coach Spencer Carbery has done a masterful job of both squeezing what’s left out of the franchise’s best-ever player — Ovechkin led the Caps in both goals (32) and points (64) in 2025-26 — while simultaneously masking the deficiencies that come with age.
Cite this Entry
“Collapsing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/collapsing. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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