Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: CRUMBLING |
CRUMBLINGPersonal pronoun & verb & noun1. Of Crumble |
Date "CRUMBLING" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Building & Civil Engineering | Or powdering is evidence of advanced destruction from other processes as well as from frost action. It is often seen where concrete was frozen in the plastic or green state. Source: European Union. (references) |
Metallurgy | Surface disaggregation. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Danger | Tottering; unstable, unsteady; shaky, top-heavy, tumbledown, ramshackle, crumbling, waterlogged; helpless, guideless; in a bad way; reduced to the last extremity, at the last extremity; trembling in the balance; nodding to its fall; (destruction). threatening; ominous, illomened; alarming; (fear); explosive. |
Deterioration | Decayed; Verb: moth-eaten, worm-eaten; mildewed, rusty, moldy, spotted, seedy, time-worn, moss-grown; discolored; effete, wasted, crumbling, moldering, rotten, cankered, blighted, tainted; depraved; (vicious); decrepid, decrepit; broke, busted, broken, out of commission, hors de combat, out of action, broken down; done, done for, done up; worn out, used up, finished; beyond saving, fit for the dust hole, fit for the wastepaper basket, past work; (useless). |
Oldness | Antiquated, of other times, rococo, of the old school, after-age, obsolete; out of date, out of fashion, out of it; stale, old-fashioned, behind the age; old-world; exploded; gone out, gone by; passe, run out; senile; time worn; crumbling; (deteriorated); secondhand. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: CRUMBLING |
| English words defined with "CRUMBLING": colossal ♦ dry rot ♦ marl ♦ prodigious ♦ stupendous ♦ Tartareous. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "CRUMBLING": Marchington ♦ plastic soil ♦ toughness of refractories. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | The crumbling warehouses, the railway arches, the cheap abundant drugs (24 Hour Party People; writing credit: Frank Cottrell Boyce) Look around, Batman! Society's crumbling! And do you know why (Batman Beyond; writing credit: Hilary Bader; Stan Berkowitz) Civilization is crumbling (Gangs of New York; writing credit: Jay Cocks) | |
Lyrics | Quickly the walls are crumbling (What Would Happen; performing artist: Meredith Brooks) Crumbling towers in beams of yellow light (Fortress Around Yur Heart; performing artist: Sting) And your world around is crumbling down, darlin ("Reach Out I'll Be There"; performing artist: The Four Tops) | |
Movie/TV Titles | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Crumbling buildings in Tombstone, Arizona, once a thriving mining town. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Bourne, Oregon. Crumbling buildings in a ghost mining town. The town came into existence in the 1870s and was notorious for the wildcat venture. Exodus from the camp occured in 1906 and most of the mines have remained closed. In the 1940 Oregon state guid. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Terry. "According to the native servant we picked up, a fat man will be parked on a stone platform in this crumbling old rookery". Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | A bend in a floor of that kind is a crack, is a crumbling. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Afghanistan | By December, party morale was crumbling, and the insurgency was growing. (references) |
Eritrea | As a result, the government has sought international assistance for a variety of development projects and has mobilized young Eritreans serving in the National Youth Service to repair crumbling roads and dams. (references) | |
Political Economy | Sierra Leone | Years of fighting, corruption, and mismanagement have resulted in a crumbling infrastructure. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Ann Richards | What breaks your heart is that it is such a jewel, Havana is so beautiful. The architecture just takes your breath away. It is just crumbling, you know, really sad. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "CRUMBLING" is generally used as a lexical verb (-ing form) -- approximately 59.19% of the time. "CRUMBLING" is used about 272 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (-ing form) | 59.19% | 161 | 24,661 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 31.62% | 86 | 35,638 |
| Noun (singular) | 8.09% | 22 | 74,468 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.74% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (common) | 0.37% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 272 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "CRUMBLING": crumbling machine. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "CRUMBLING": crumbling-looking. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
crumbling | 11 |
wall are crumbling | 7 |
concrete crumbling | 5 |
brick crumbling | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "CRUMBLING"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Arabic | تفتت (crumble, decay, detritus, disintegrate), تهدم (collapse, falling, molder, moulder, ruin). (various references) | |
Danish | smuldring, findeling af ostemasse, findeling af jorden (soil pulverization). (various references) | |
Dutch | verkruimeling van de bodem (soil pulverization), verkruimelen van de wrongel, afbrokkeling. (various references) | |
Finnish | sullotun hiekan kuoriutuminen, juustorakeiston hienontaminen. (various references) | |
French | effritement. (various references) | |
German | zerbröckelnd, abbröckelnd. (various references) | |
Greek | κονιοποίηση εδάφους (soil pulverization), θρυμματισμόσ (fragmentation), θρυμματισμός εδάφους (soil pulverization), θρυμματισμός (disintegration, fragmentation, grinding, milling, pulverisation, regrinding, scrap grinding, scrap reduction, size reduction). (various references) | |
Hebrew | תחיח" (loosening), פתפות (mashing), "תפוררות (cracking, disintegration, disruption). (various references) | |
Hungarian | porladó (mouldering, pulverulent), omladozó (crumbly, dilapidated, mouldering, shackly, tumble-down), morzsolódó (brittle, friable). (various references) | |
Italian | cadente (cadent, decrepit, dilapidated, falling, sagging, tumble down), sminuzzamento della cagliata, sminuzzamento del terreno (soil pulverization), sbriciolamento (raveling, unraveling), polverizzazione del terreno (soil pulverization), diroccato (in ruins, tumble down). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 崩壊 (breaking down, caving in, collapse, decay physics). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | くずれ (collapse, ruin), しょうへ" (conte, short short story, short story or article, slight change, speck), ぼろぼろ (worn out), さいへ" (debris, reorganization, reshuffle, second calamity, second change), ほうかい (breaking down, caving in, cherishing, collapse, decay, entertaining, harboring), とうかい (collapse, destruction, eastern sea, hidden, region south of Tokyo on Pacific Ocean side of Japan). (various references) | |
Korean | 부서짐. (various references) | |
Manx | tuittymagh (accident, caducous, epileptic; disagreement, falling; accidental, tottering), mholmaghey (crumble), kinneigey (crumble). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | umblingcray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | esmiuçamento do solo (soil pulverization), esmigalhamento. (various references) | |
Romanian | care se prãbuşeşte, surpare (land slide), surpãturã (ruins), fãrâmicios (breakable, crumbly, fragile, frail, loose). (various references) | |
Spanish | troceado de la cuajada, pulverización del terreno (soil pulverization), desmenuzamiento del terreno (soil pulverization), desmenuzado de la cuajada, desmenuzado, descascarillado (shelling). (various references) | |
Swedish | ytluckring. (various references) | |
Turkish | ufalanan (crumbly, crumby), dağılan (crumbly). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "CRUMBLING": crumblings. (additional references) | |
| |
"CRUMBLING" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: curbling. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "CRUMBLING" (pronounced kru"mbuling or kru"mbling) |
| 8 | -r u" m b u l i ng | grumbling, rumbling. |
| 7 | -u" m b u l i ng | bumbling, fumbling, humbling, mumbling, stumbling, tumbling. |
| 6 | -m b u l i ng | ambling, assembling, gambling, resembling, scrambling, trembling. |
| 5 | -b u l i ng | babbling, bubbling, dabbling, disabling, doubling, dribbling, enabling, gobbling, hobbling, labeling, mislabeling, nibbling, quibbling, redoubling, scribbling, squabbling, tabling, troubling, warbling, wobbling. |
| 4 | -u l i ng | backpedaling, baffling, barreling, battling, belittling, bicycling, boggling, bottling, bristling, bugling, bundling, bungling, bustling, cackling, canceling, cancelling, channeling, chortling, circling, coddling, commingling, counseling, cradling, crippling, cycling, dangling, dazzling, Dialing, disgruntling, dismantling, drizzling, dwindling, embezzling, empaneling, encircling, entitling, equaling, fizzling, fondling, funneling, giggling, groveling, grueling, gurgling, guzzling, haggling, hassling, huddling, hurdling, hustling, idling, imperiling, initialing, intermingling, jiggling, jostling, juggling, leveling, mangling, marshaling, meddling, middling, mingling, modeling, mottling, muddling, muscling, paddling, paneling, parceling, pedaling, peddling, piddling, pummeling, puzzling, quadrupling, quarreling, raveling, recycling, refueling, remodeling, reshuffling, reveling, rippling, rivaling, ruffling, saddling, scuttling, settling, shriveling, shuttling, signaling, signalling, singling, sizzling, spiraling, spiralling, stapling, stenciling, strangling, struggling, swiveling, throttling, tingling, tinkling, toppling, totaling, totalling, toweling, traveling, travelling, tripling, tunneling, twinkling, unraveling, unsettling, waggling, wiggling, wrangling, wrinkling, yodeling. |
| 3 | -l i ng | annealing, appalling, appealing, ailing, angling, assailing, bailing, baling, balling, bankrolling, beguiling, Belling, billing, blackmailing, boiling, Bolling, bowling, brawling, broiling, buckling, burgling, burling, cajoling, calling, Carling, ceiling, chilling, chronicling, chuckling, compelling, compiling, concealing, consoling, controlling, cooling, corralling, countervailing, coupling, cowling, crackling, crawling, cuddling, culling, curling, curtailing, darling, dawdling, dealing, decoupling, derailing, detailing, dispelling, dissembling, distilling, doling, drilling, drooling, duckling, dueling, dulling, dumpling, dwelling, earthling, emailing, enrolling, entailing, entangling, excelling, expelling, extolling, failing, falling, feeling, felling, fiddling, filing, filling, flailing, fledgling, foaling, foiling, fooling, forestalling, foretelling, fouling, foundling, freewheeling, fueling, fuelling, fulfilling, galling, grappling, Grayling, grilling, groundling, growling, hailing, handling, hauling, healing, heckling, helling, hilling, holing, howling, hurling, hurtling, inhaling, inkling, installing, instilling, jailing, Keeling, killing, kindling, kneeling, lolling, Lulling, mailing, Marling, Melling, milling, mishandling, misspelling, mothballing, mulling, nailing, needling, nestling, nonruling, oiling, outselling, overbilling, overhauling, overkilling, overruling, overselling, panhandling, paralleling, parboiling, paroling, patrolling, pearling, peeling, pickling, piling, Pilling, Pindling, poling, polling, pooling, prevailing, profiling, propelling, prowling, pulling, quelling, quilling, Quisling, railing, rambling, rankling, rappelling, rattling, rebelling, recalling, reconciling, reeling, regaling, rekindling, repealing, repelling, rescheduling, reselling, retailing, retelling, retooling, revealing, ridiculing, Riesling, rifling, rilling, roiling, rolling, rototilling, ruling, rustling, sailing, sampling, Sandling, sapling, scaling, scheduling, Schilling, schooling, scowling, sealing, seedling, Seeling, selling, shelling, shilling, shoveling, shuffling, sibling, skilling, smelling, smiling, smuggling, snarling, Snelling, snowballing, sparkling, Sparling, spelling, spilling, spoiling, sprawling, sprinkling, squealing, stalling, starling, startling, stealing, sterling, stifling, stockpiling, stonewalling, storytelling, straddling, strickling, stripling, strolling, styling, suckling, surveilling, swashbuckling, swelling, swilling, swindling, swirling, tackling, tailing, tangling, telling, thrilling, Tilling, toddling, toggling, toiling, tolling, tooling, trailing, trampling, trickling, trifling, trilling, trolling, twiddling, twirling, unappealing, unavailing, unbundling, underling, underselling, unfailing, unfeeling, unfurling, unsmiling, untangling, unveiling, unwilling, veiling, waffling, wailing, walling, weakling, welling, whaling, wheeling, whirling, whistling, whittling, wholesaling, wiling, willing, wrestling, yearling, yelling. |
| 5 | -m b l i ng | dissembling, rambling. |
| 4 | -b l i ng | sibling. |
| 3 | -l i ng | annealing, appalling, appealing, ailing, ambling, angling, assailing, assembling, babbling, backpedaling, baffling, bailing, baling, balling, bankrolling, barreling, battling, beguiling, belittling, Belling, bicycling, billing, blackmailing, boggling, boiling, Bolling, bottling, bowling, brawling, bristling, broiling, bubbling, buckling, bugling, bumbling, bundling, bungling, burgling, burling, bustling, cackling, cajoling, calling, canceling, cancelling, Carling, ceiling, channeling, chilling, chortling, chronicling, chuckling, circling, coddling, commingling, compelling, compiling, concealing, consoling, controlling, cooling, corralling, counseling, countervailing, coupling, cowling, crackling, cradling, crawling, crippling, cuddling, culling, curling, curtailing, cycling, dabbling, dangling, darling, dawdling, dazzling, dealing, decoupling, derailing, detailing, Dialing, disabling, disgruntling, dismantling, dispelling, distilling, doling, doubling, dribbling, drilling, drizzling, drooling, duckling, dueling, dulling, dumpling, dwelling, dwindling, earthling, emailing, embezzling, empaneling, enabling, encircling, enrolling, entailing, entangling, entitling, equaling, excelling, expelling, extolling, failing, falling, feeling, felling, fiddling, filing, filling, fizzling, flailing, fledgling, foaling, foiling, fondling, fooling, forestalling, foretelling, fouling, foundling, freewheeling, fueling, fuelling, fulfilling, fumbling, funneling, galling, gambling, giggling, gobbling, grappling, Grayling, grilling, groundling, groveling, growling, grueling, grumbling, gurgling, guzzling, haggling, hailing, handling, hassling, hauling, healing, heckling, helling, hilling, hobbling, holing, howling, huddling, humbling, hurdling, hurling, hurtling, hustling, idling, imperiling, inhaling, initialing, inkling, installing, instilling, intermingling, jailing, jiggling, jostling, juggling, Keeling, killing, kindling, kneeling, labeling, leveling, lolling, Lulling, mailing, mangling, Marling, marshaling, meddling, Melling, middling, milling, mingling, mishandling, mislabeling, misspelling, modeling, mothballing, mottling, muddling, mulling, mumbling, muscling, nailing, needling, nestling, nibbling, nonruling, oiling, outselling, overbilling, overhauling, overkilling, overruling, overselling, paddling, paneling, panhandling, paralleling, parboiling, parceling, paroling, patrolling, pearling, pedaling, peddling, peeling, pickling, piddling, piling, Pilling, Pindling, poling, polling, pooling, prevailing, profiling, propelling, prowling, pulling, pummeling, puzzling, quadrupling, quarreling, quelling, quibbling, quilling, Quisling, railing, rankling, rappelling, rattling, raveling, rebelling, recalling, reconciling, recycling, redoubling, reeling, refueling, regaling, rekindling, remodeling, repealing, repelling, rescheduling, reselling, resembling, reshuffling, retailing, retelling, retooling, revealing, reveling, ridiculing, Riesling, rifling, rilling, rippling, rivaling, roiling, rolling, rototilling, ruffling, ruling, rumbling, rustling, saddling, sailing, sampling, Sandling, sapling, scaling, scheduling, Schilling, schooling, scowling, scrambling, scribbling, scuttling, sealing, seedling, Seeling, selling, settling, shelling, shilling, shoveling, shriveling, shuffling, shuttling, signaling, signalling, singling, sizzling, skilling, smelling, smiling, smuggling, snarling, Snelling, snowballing, sparkling, Sparling, spelling, spilling, spiraling, spiralling, spoiling, sprawling, sprinkling, squabbling, squealing, stalling, stapling, starling, startling, stealing, stenciling, sterling, stifling, stockpiling, stonewalling, storytelling, straddling, strangling, strickling, stripling, strolling, struggling, stumbling, styling, suckling, surveilling, swashbuckling, swelling, swilling, swindling, swirling, swiveling, tabling, tackling, tailing, tangling, telling, thrilling, throttling, Tilling, tingling, tinkling, toddling, toggling, toiling, tolling, tooling, toppling, totaling, totalling, toweling, trailing, trampling, traveling, travelling, trembling, trickling, trifling, trilling, tripling, trolling, troubling, tumbling, tunneling, twiddling, twinkling, twirling, unappealing, unavailing, unbundling, underling, underselling, unfailing, unfeeling, unfurling, unraveling, unsettling, unsmiling, untangling, unveiling, unwilling, veiling, waffling, waggling, wailing, walling, warbling, weakling, welling, whaling, wheeling, whirling, whistling, whittling, wholesaling, wiggling, wiling, willing, wobbling, wrangling, wrestling, wrinkling, yearling, yelling, yodeling. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-c-g-i-l-m-n-r-u" | |
-1 letter: crumbing, rumbling. | |
-2 letters: bluming, burling, culming, curbing, curling. | |
-3 letters: bluing, brucin, cluing, crinum, cubing, curing, lubing, lubric, luring, muling, muring, ruling. | |
-4 letters: bring, bruin, burin, climb, cling, clung, crumb, cuing, cumin, incur, linum, lungi, mucin, ruing, runic, unrig. | |
-5 letters: birl, blin, blur, brig, brim, brin, bung, burg, burl, burn, club, crib, culm, curb, curl, curn. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-c-g-i-l-m-n-r-u" | |
+1 letter: crumblings. | |
+3 letters: unscrambling. | |
+4 letters: macroglobulin. | |
+5 letters: hemoglobinuric, macroglobulins. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Quotations: Spoken 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
