1
as in to scrunch
to create (as by crushing) an irregular mass of creases in
crumpled the piece of paper and angrily threw it in the wastebasket
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2
as in to collapse
to fall down or in as a result of physical pressure
the box crumpled when I accidentally dropped a brick on it
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Examples of crumple in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The latest: The remnants of Hurricane Helene crumpled bridges, swept away large chunks of busy interstates and made some rural communities inaccessible.
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Adam Tamburin, Axios, 2 Oct. 2024
In western North Carolina, brutal rains have caused houses to float away from subdivisions, bridges to crumble and semi-trucks to become crumpled into mangled piles.
—Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 1 Oct. 2024
Everest’s origin story began about 40 million to 50 million years ago, when landmasses on two slabs of Earth’s crust — the India Plate and the Eurasian Plate — collided in slow motion and crumpled the terrain, raising rocky peaks that over millions of years became the Himalayan mountain range.
—Mindy Weisberger, CNN, 30 Sep. 2024
Best Phil sight gag: suffering from the aftershocks of getting tased by Manny, crumpling an expensive baseball card from mint condition… to near mint condition… to fair condition… to garbage.
—Tanya Melendez, EW.com, 29 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for crumple 
Adam Tamburin, Axios, 2 Oct. 2024
In western North Carolina, brutal rains have caused houses to float away from subdivisions, bridges to crumble and semi-trucks to become crumpled into mangled piles.
—Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 1 Oct. 2024
Everest’s origin story began about 40 million to 50 million years ago, when landmasses on two slabs of Earth’s crust — the India Plate and the Eurasian Plate — collided in slow motion and crumpled the terrain, raising rocky peaks that over millions of years became the Himalayan mountain range.
—Mindy Weisberger, CNN, 30 Sep. 2024
Best Phil sight gag: suffering from the aftershocks of getting tased by Manny, crumpling an expensive baseball card from mint condition… to near mint condition… to fair condition… to garbage.
—Tanya Melendez, EW.com, 29 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for crumple
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'crumple.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Crumple.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/crumple. Accessed 22 Oct. 2024.
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