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... overwhelming devastating crippling shattering decisive ruinousannihilating

Opposites

mild slight negligible

Word family

Forms crushingly

Derived forms crushingly

Related forms crushcrusher

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

crushing blow
a completely devastating setback that is very difficult to recover from

Adjective + noun

Etymology

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

# 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

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