crushing C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities US /ˈkrʌʃɪŋ/ UK /ˈkrʌʃɪŋ/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 adj overwhelming and devastating; severe enough to defeat utterly The team suffered a crushing defeat in the final minute. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · overwhelming and... overwhelmingdevastatingcripplingshatteringdecisiveruinousannihilating ↔ Opposites mildslightnegligible Word family Forms crushingly Derived forms crushingly Related forms crushcrusher Common collocations crushing blow Adjective + noun Etymology AI details Present participle of 'crush', from Old French 'croissir' / 'cruisir' ('to crack, smash, gnash'), probably of Germanic origin. croissir Old French View etymology graph -> Topics Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # crushing **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /ˈkrʌʃɪŋ/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈkrʌʃɪŋ/ ## Meanings 1. overwhelming and devastating; severe enough to defeat utterly ## Examples - The team suffered a crushing defeat in the final minute. ## Synonyms - overwhelming - devastating - crippling - shattering - decisive - ruinous - annihilating ## Antonyms - mild - slight - negligible ## Derived Forms - crushingly ## Related Forms - crush - crusher ## Roots and Affixes - Root: croissir ## Etymology Present participle of 'crush', from Old French 'croissir' / 'cruisir' ('to crack, smash, gnash'), probably of Germanic origin. ## AI Etymology Crushing is the present participle of 'crush', from Old French 'croissir' / 'cruisir' ('to crack, smash, gnash'), probably of Germanic origin. The immediate etymological form is Old French croissir. In present use as an adjective, it means "overwhelming and devastating; severe enough to defeat utterly", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Related words include crush and crusher; derived forms include crushingly. Its contrast set includes mild, slight, and negligible, which clarifies the semantic boundary of the modern word. ## Topics - Describing Qualities - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown