crumple
Example Sentences
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They were at work when the quakes struck, causing high-rise apartment buildings, shopping centers and schools to crumple.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
To wrap a basketball, for example, you’d need to crumple the paper in a horrible mess or cut many pieces and tape them together with unsightly overlaps.
From Slate ● Jan. 21, 2026
Rot and death would spread through their venerable trunks and crumple their limbs — but their roots and stumps, cradled by the continent’s most ancient mountains, lived on in the sandy, acidic Appalachian soil.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2023
Emergency alert systems that crumple when needed most.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2023
They are scarred, like he was burned, and they clench around the paper like he wants to crumple it.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
If people and institutions and businesses and government stand up to him, he crumples.
From Slate ● Jan. 23, 2026
A piercing scream erupts in the crowd; a woman’s face crumples and flutters, like a paper mask about to disintegrate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2023
Mesut's face crumples into tears and he turns away to compose himself.
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2023
The situation is akin to a car that crumples in a crash: the vehicle absorbs the impact to protect passengers, but it is totaled.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 22, 2023
The guy crumples something up and tosses it at the trash can beside me.
From "The Sky at Our Feet" by Nadia Hashimi
I didn’t feel any affinity with the humanoid that smashed Bolt’s 100-meter record, but found the robot weightlifter that crumpled under a 15kg barbell and staggered into a table very relatable.
From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026
This middle-class neighborhood's imposing residential buildings -- and even a five-star hotel -- crumpled during the tremors.
From Barron's ● Jun. 27, 2026
The look on Joe’s face when we first meet him says a lot about his crumpled ambitions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
Large, irregular, corpuscular clouds made of crumpled paper hung over the stage.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
His jeans and GG Gang sweatshirt are still crumpled inside.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
Videos posted to social media and verified by AFP on Monday showed the catastrophic collapse of a shopping centre in General Santos, and an unoccupied school building crumpling.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
But first, she sobs, crumpling into Samuel’s arms while he holds her close.
From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2024
They belt with the conviction of Broadway stars, some crumpling from the emotional catharsis.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2024
“I want people to know that we’re just normal people,” Ms. Broadbent, her face crumpling as she fought through tears, told Mr. Johnson.
From New York Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
I realize my hands have tensed, crumpling the edges of the newspaper.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
Vocabulary lists containing crumple
Number the Stars
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Purple Hibiscus
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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