(v. t.) To break into small pieces; to cause to fall in pieces.
(v. i.) To fall into small pieces; to break or part into small fragments; hence, to fall to decay or ruin; to become disintegrated; to perish.
Example Sentences:
(1) The breathtaking response of the geosphere as the great ice sheets crumbled might be considered as providing little more than an intriguing insight into the prehistoric workings of our world, were it not for the fact that our planet is once again in the throes an extraordinary climatic transformation – this time brought about by human activities.
(2) Many of Long’s pieces are fragile and fleeting: a stripe of un-mown grass in an otherwise close cropped lawn at the Henry Moore foundation , a misty circle in Scotland that lasted only until the day warmed up, a stripe of green grass left by plucking daisies, or paintings in wet mud that dry out and crumble.
(3) Now the fabric of the school is visibly crumbling: roofs leak and skylights are broken; the estimated cost of repairs is £1m.
(4) And yet I sense a crumbling of the monumental Boris facade, the great artificial construct designed to make him prime minister, for reasons I have never understood.
(5) In between, the small downtown area is a shell of empty, crumbling shop fronts and derelict, boarded-up houses interspersed with the odd bar, ramshackle residential street and tracts of wasteland.
(6) They watch her life crumble as she's subjected to further turmoil through pregnancy or marital crisis.
(7) Yet we invest less in sport than other developed countries - £36 per head compared to France's £109 - and our facilities are ageing and crumbling.
(8) Diane James offers crumbling Ukip a safe pair of hands Read more James said she had not yet formalised her nomination as leader, meaning that she had never formally taken over from her predecessor, Nigel Farage, following her landslide election on 16 September.
(9) 2 Crumble the blue cheese into the porridge and then cook on a medium heat, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon until it thickens to your liking.
(10) Serves 4 100g butter, at room temperature 150g flour 50g ground almonds 30g suet 1 egg yolk 50g cooked chestnuts, chopped 5 tbsp chopped fresh thyme Salt and black pepper For the leeks 1kg leeks, trimmed 100g butter Salt and pepper 200ml double cream 1 tsp nutmeg 1 To make the crumble topping, work the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs, then add the ground almonds and suet.
(11) "We inherited a crumbling infrastructure, starved of funding; Victorian schools with rundown gyms, and thousands of playing fields sold off," Sutcliffe said.
(12) 400g cooked or tinned butterbeans 1 tsp ground cumin 10ml lemon juice ¼ clove garlic, peeled and finely minced 1 small handful picked flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped 1 tbsp plain flour (gluten-free flour also works fine) 1 tsp salt 1 egg 1 spring onion, trimmed and finely sliced 50g breadcrumbs 100g feta (or other crumbly goat's or sheep's cheese) Put the butterbeans, cumin, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, flour, salt and egg in a food processor and blitz to a coarse paste: you don't want the mix fully pureed, otherwise the burgers will be too wet and will fall apart on the grill.
(13) Fortune Magazine predicted that “ the apparent M-Pesa monopoly may be set to crumble ”, indicating that the new licensing regime could open up the market long dominated by Safaricom.
(14) Supporters say Luzhkov transformed Moscow from a crumbling communist shell into a vibrant metropolis.
(15) Ruth Joseph and Sarah Nathan's crumbly little almond and lemon tarts are the perfect example of its charms, to my mind – not too sweet, not too sour, just intensely, deliciously zesty.
(16) When President Obama stands up and says - as he did when he addressed the nation in February 2011 about Libya - that "the United States will continue to stand up for freedom, stand up for justice, and stand up for the dignity of all people", it should trigger nothing but a scornful fit of laughter, not credulous support (by the way, not that anyone much cares any more, but here's what is happening after the Grand Success of the Libya Intervention: "Tribal and historical loyalties still run deep in Libya, which is struggling to maintain central government control in a country where armed militia wield real power and meaningful systems of law and justice are lacking after the crumbling of Gaddafi's eccentric personal rule").
(17) At the beginning, David Cameron spoke respectfully of "President Mubarak" and the "Egyptian government"; by this weekend, the prime minister is using the much more pejorative "regime" to describe the crumbling autocracy.
(18) He begins describing the crumbling wall of mud that enveloped him, the image of his young daughter propelling him to fight to the surface and take his first breath of air.
(19) My partner and I withstood the onslaught, but eventually the relationship crumbled under the pressure.
(20) Pour the chopped tomatoes over the peaches and onions, add chopped coriander, cumin and a finely crumbled stock cube and stir in.
Ramble
Definition:
(v. i.) To walk, ride, or sail, from place to place, without any determinate object in view; to roam carelessly or irregularly; to rove; to wander; as, to ramble about the city; to ramble over the world.
(v. i.) To talk or write in a discursive, aimless way.
(v. i.) To extend or grow at random.
(n.) A going or moving from place to place without any determinate business or object; an excursion or stroll merely for recreation.
(n.) A bed of shale over the seam.
Example Sentences:
(1) The persona that emerged during day two of Breivik's 10-week trial was a rambling, repetitive obsessive, fixated on a threat he never truly managed to articulate, but which involved "cultural Marxists", whom he claimed had destroyed Norway by using it as "a dumping ground for the surplus births of the third world".
(2) In it he translated Trump’s coarse ramblings into charming straight talk and came up with the phrase “truthful hyperbole”, which captures brilliantly an approach to business and politics in which everything is the greatest, the most beautiful.
(3) There is also Mario Draghi at the ECB, rambling on about quantitative easing , a policy that Berlin detests.
(4) His statements to the police were rambling and often incoherent.
(5) Millions of people are coming out to vote … People that have never voted before.” In a rambling speech, Trump also said he was “disgusted” with companies that are leaving the US, called for better care for veterans and insisted that Isis would be destroyed, although he referred to the San Bernardino attacks as having happened in “Los Angeles” before correcting himself.
(6) After eight hours of rallying, Kuti was dismissive of accepting anything short of a full governmental U-turn as he settled down to a spliff in his home, a rambling two-storey affair down a potholed road.
(7) This goal was actually obscured by the tangled web of Prince's rambling 1906 book and his other publications on the case.
(8) But he'd been doing a bit of holiday cover for daytime DJs, and he has a tendency to, as he puts it, "ramble on": he recently treated the nation to a nine-minute oration on the shortcomings of Madonna's gig at Hyde Park.
(9) The caricature of the older person as slow, rambling and confused is a familiar stereotype, reinforced by a media that often focuses on perceived age-related failings in public figures such as Ronald Reagan, Menzies Campbell and, more recently, Rupert Murdoch.
(10) There was how he was responsible for one of the most jaw-droppingly crazy moments in deposition history where he responded to the question "is this your handwriting" with a rambling, lurid riff more suitable for a Penthouse letter section than the courtroom.
(11) The oft-criticised Active People survey will be replaced with a new measurement tool called Active Lives that will also measure other forms of activity such as cycling to work, dance and rambling as well as activity among children from the age of five for the first time.
(12) Fun.” In a 20-minute speech, Palin praised Trump and expressed her desire to “Make America Great Again”, using the opportunity to go on a rambling and confused attack on both parties.
(13) I am happy to ramble on about the benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle, but veggie dogs are some real bullshit “But Madeleine,” you say, “hot dogs are disgusting!
(14) Donald Trump’s mad hatter ramblings are outside the conservative reform movement and we will continue onward to deny him the nomination.” Kasich did not compete in Indiana as a result of a pact with Cruz and has so far only won his home state of Ohio.
(15) He took us on a long-distance ramble through his landmark priorities.
(16) During the summer there are regular guided rambles around the traditional Highland estate (a mix of farmed croft land, wood and moorland) and from Plockton to Kyle of Lochalsh, but it's worth keeping an eye out for special events and themed walks throughout the year.
(17) A Trump spokesperson emphasized to the Guardian that the Republican frontrunner’s answer was solely in response to the “training camps”, which is a common far rightwing conspiracy theory and not the questioner’s rambling statement before that.
(18) In answers that ranged from terse monosyllables to rambling monologues, Cayne said he wished the Securities and Exchange Commission had looked into the way rumours about Bear were spread: "Regardless of whether there was a conspiracy or not, the bottom line is the firm came under attack."
(19) I loved the short ramble around, and then the perfect recipe within.
(20) The steady feed of rambling selfie videos have prompted widespread mockery and scorn and in some cases have clearly further distracted from the plight of Harney County ranchers whom the militia claim to be backing.