as in to grind
to reduce to fine particles eons of incessant pounding by the waves have comminuted the once-rocky shoreline into a bed of fine-grained sand

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of comminute The report of displacement (out of alignment) is not as worrisome as if the fracture was comminuted (pieces). Profootballdoc, sandiegouniontribune.com, 5 Nov. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for comminute
Verb
  • Just keep grinding, keep working.
    Matt Gelb, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2025
  • That’s when most of the area’s biggest theaters grind back into action.
    David Lyman, The Enquirer, 10 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Not the grand slam that had Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal pounding his fist into his glove as Thomas circled the bases and Progressive Field erupted.
    Zack Meisel, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2025
  • Eighteen students who fled from the shooting took shelter at a home just down the road, after an initial group of them pounded on the door asking for help, resident Don Cygan told 9News.
    Katie Langford, Boston Herald, 13 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The result is quantum devices that can fly on real aircraft without crushing.
    Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Hong Kong advancers beat decliners, though healthcare was crushed by rumors that the US would impose tariffs on Chinese drugs.
    Brendan Ahern, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • As both business owner and head baker — her black chef’s coat is usually powdered with flour, her hands stained with icing — Vee won’t have time this June to participate in the Chicago Pride Parade.
    Sophie Levenson, Chicago Tribune, 17 June 2025
  • Pallets of jurema bark, powdered and shredded, in a storage room at one of Akasha Song’s production facilities.
    Andy Greenberg, Wired News, 22 May 2025
Verb
  • The senior completed 19 of 26 passes for 142 yards and three TDs as Granada beat Monte Vista 19-7.
    Christian Babcock, Mercury News, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Analysts are often effusive in their praise of companies on their earnings calls after results beat expectations or a forecast is particularly impressive.
    Ari Levy, CNBC, 10 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • At odds with California’s climate goal of achieving zero-net carbon pollution, logging and milling wastes promptly release half a tree’s carbon into the atmosphere.
    John P. O’Brien, Mercury News, 13 Sep. 2025
  • The inside was precision-milled to make room for all of the necessary chips and sensors.
    Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 9 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • In sacrificing its global influence for the chance to spend the past year pulverizing the previously unheard-of city of Pokrovsk in the Donbas, Russia has proved not its resilience but its near irrelevance.
    Jeremy Shapiro, The Atlantic, 10 Sep. 2025
  • This allows Carnival to crush leftovers and pulverize it into literal fish food that can be dumped into the sea.
    John Kell, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • These plans disintegrated in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people and resulted in the taking of 251 hostages.
    Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 8 Sep. 2025
  • But explaining Dyer’s motivations in the face of a disintegrating family portrayed in & Sons remains a bit of an uphill climb for Nighy.
    Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 7 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Comminute.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/comminute. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.

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