crumple

English

Etymology

From Middle English crumplen, cromplen, frequentative of Middle English crumpen (“to curl up, crump”), from Old English crump (“bent, crooked”). Equivalent to crump +‎ -le.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɹʌmpəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmpəl

Noun

crumple (plural crumples)

1. A crease, wrinkle, or irregular fold.

Verb

crumple (third-person singular simple present crumples, present participle crumpling, simple past and past participle crumpled)

1. (transitive) To rumple; to press into wrinkles by crushing together.

   He crumpled the note and threw it away.

2. (transitive) To cause to collapse.

   He crumpled the car's body panels when he backed into a post.

3. (intransitive) To become wrinkled.

   The car's body panels crumpled when they hit the post.

5. (intransitive, figurative) To collapse; to surrender.

   Synonyms: buckle; cave; cave in; fold

   Coordinate term: crumble

   The team's defensive strategy crumpled.

   The defenders crumpled owing to exhaustion and dehydration.

   • 2017 June 3, Daniel Taylor, “Real Madrid win Champions League as Cristiano Ronaldo double defeats Juv”, in The Guardian (London)‎^[1]:

     Yes, Juve were unfortunate, in the extreme, with the deflected goal from Casemiro that gave Madrid a 2-1 lead just after the hour. From that point onwards, however, it was staggering to see a team renowned for defensive structure crumple this way.

Derived terms

• crumple up

Translations

to rumple

• Azerbaijani: əzmək (az)
• Belarusian: мяць impf (mjacʹ)
• Bulgarian: мачкам (bg) (mačkam), набръчквам (bg) (nabrǎčkvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 弄皺／弄皱 (zh) (nòng zhòu)

• Czech: mačkat (cs), muchlat, krčit, mnout (cs) impf
• Finnish: rypistää, rutistaa (fi)
• French: chiffonner (fr), froisser (fr)
• German: knüllen (de), zerknittern (de)
• Greek: τσαλακώνω (el) (tsalakóno), ζαρώνω (el) (zaróno)
• Indonesian: lecek (id)
• Japanese: しわくちゃにする (ja) (shiwakucha ni suru)
• Maori: tarihahohaho
• Polish: miąć (pl) impf
• Portuguese: amassar (pt)
• Romanian: cocoloși (ro)
• Russian: смина́ть (ru) impf (sminátʹ), мять (ru) impf (mjatʹ), смять (ru) pf (smjatʹ), ко́мкать (ru) impf (kómkatʹ), ско́мкать (ru) pf (skómkatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: згужвати

  Roman: zgužvati (sh)

• Slovak: mäť impf
• Spanish: arrugar (es)
• Swedish: skrynkla ihop (sv)
• Ukrainian: жма́кати impf (žmákaty), м'я́ти impf (mʺjáty)

to cause to collapse

• Bulgarian: раздробявам (bg) (razdrobjavam)
• Greek: σωριάζω (el) (soriázo)
• Irish: crap

to become wrinkled

• Bulgarian: мачкам се (mačkam se), набръчквам се (nabrǎčkvam se)
• Czech: mačkat (cs) se
• Finnish: rypistyä (fi)
• French: se froisser (fr)
• Greek: ζαρώνω (el) (zaróno)
• Portuguese: amassar (pt)
• Russian: мо́рщиться (ru) (mórščitʹsja), мяться (ru) (mjatʹsja)
• Spanish: arrugar (es)

to collapse

• Czech: hroutit se
• Finnish: lyyhistyä (fi)
• French: s’effondrer (fr)
• Greek: σωριάζομαι (el) (soriázomai), καταρρέω (el) (katarréo)
• Maori: ngaeki
• Spanish: colapsar (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Spanish: (transitive) ^{(please verify)} arrugar (es), (intransitive) ^{(please verify)} arrugarse (es)

Derived terms

• crumple zone

Related terms

• crumpet

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “crumple”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• clumper