as in defeat
a falling short of one's goals
more than a few people were glad to see the obnoxiously smug skater come a cropper at the national championships
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Recent Examples of cropper
Two weeks after Alt’s ankle was mangled, depriving Herbert of his blindside protector, the quarterback and the offense came a cropper in a 30-6 blowout at Jacksonville in mid-November.
—
Tom Krasovic,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
13 Jan. 2026
More recently, soybean croppers were angered by the financial support lent to Argentina, which went on to ship large quantities of its own soybeans to China.
—
Hugh Cameron,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Oct. 2025
Still, with the disappointing box office of the first Horizon, the lack of Horizon II on the big screen, and third and fourth installments of Horizon looking as likely as a return of the Wild West itself, however this case ends up sorted, Costner may still come a cropper.
—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
16 Oct. 2025
In January, 1813, at York Castle, fourteen croppers stood trial for rioting and machine breaking, which Parliament had deemed a capital offense in the new Frame-Breaking Act.
—
John Cassidy,
New Yorker,
14 Apr. 2025
Tom Krasovic,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
13 Jan. 2026
More recently, soybean croppers were angered by the financial support lent to Argentina, which went on to ship large quantities of its own soybeans to China.
—
Hugh Cameron,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Oct. 2025
Still, with the disappointing box office of the first Horizon, the lack of Horizon II on the big screen, and third and fourth installments of Horizon looking as likely as a return of the Wild West itself, however this case ends up sorted, Costner may still come a cropper.
—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
16 Oct. 2025
In January, 1813, at York Castle, fourteen croppers stood trial for rioting and machine breaking, which Parliament had deemed a capital offense in the new Frame-Breaking Act.
—
John Cassidy,
New Yorker,
14 Apr. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cropper
Noun
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The film culminates in the Battle of the Monongahela in 1755, where Washington steps up and delivers a rousing speech to the British army despite their defeat.
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That conversion and conquest crusade brought disease and defeat to native Californians, whose numbers and ways of life would be all but exterminated by the time the United States of America celebrated its first 100 years.
Noun
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Taking the midway point of those numbers, an opening weekend of $45 million would be a monumental failure.
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Then came this spring’s historic and devastating floods across northern Michigan — in some areas, for the first time anyone can remember — swamping homes, pushing dams to the brink of failure and washing out roadways.
Noun
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Some even spent the night outdoors, fearing further collapses.
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That puts the whole system at risk for collapse, said Aaron Weiss, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities.
Noun
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The military declared McKinney dead in March 1946, though no crash site had been identified, let alone any remains of the man from Providence, Rhode Island.
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The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said it was not notified of the crash, according to local reports.
Cite this Entry
“Cropper.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cropper. Accessed 4 Jul. 2026.
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