(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.
Shatter
Definition:
(v. t.) To break at once into many pieces; to dash, burst, or part violently into fragments; to rend into splinters; as, an explosion shatters a rock or a bomb; too much steam shatters a boiler; an oak is shattered by lightning.
(v. t.) To disorder; to derange; to render unsound; as, to be shattered in intellect; his constitution was shattered; his hopes were shattered.
(v. t.) To scatter about.
(v. i.) To be broken into fragments; to fall or crumble to pieces by any force applied.
(n.) A fragment of anything shattered; -- used chiefly or soley in the phrase into shatters; as, to break a glass into shatters.
Example Sentences:
(1) Sacked Cronulla star Todd Carney said he was shattered when he learned a picture of him urinating in his own mouth in a nightclub toilet had been posted on social media.
(2) In a sign of deep unease among senior Tories at some of the party’s tactics, Forsyth accused the prime minister of having “shattered” the pro-UK alliance in Scotland and stirring up English nationalism after the Scottish independence referendum last year.
(3) Many of the windows in the road shattered.” This was France’s – and western Europe’s – first ever female suicide bombing.
(4) Faster than ever we could deal with them these shattered men were coming in, and yet across the few acres of snow before me the busy guns were making more.
(5) Filo pastry contains very little fat itself but relies on fat being added later in between incredibly fine sheets, allowing them to separate during cooking, and so shatter in the mouth into fine delicate shards.
(6) Glasgow Central station was also closed to the public after flying debris shattered part of the building's glass roof.
(7) Speaking to the Guardian, Ghavami’s brother Iman, 28, said the family felt “shattered” by the court verdict.
(8) While Goma did not experience the worst of the fighting, the M23 movement diverted government funds away from the provision of basic services and shattered hopes of a lasting peace.
(9) Whether the issue is homosexuality, divorce, abortion, euthanasia or equal marriage, religion has the power to shatter party discipline.
(10) I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but I know someday someone will and hopefully sooner than we might think right now,” she added.
(11) The bombings shattered more than two months of relative calm across the restive country.
(12) Bishop is also visiting a country that is still enduring the ongoing trauma associated with the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami and the worst nuclear disaster of modern times – a disaster that, three years on, has left the region comprised of ghost towns and shattered lives.
(13) Most of the economic news since the idea of more QE was first floated in August has been better than expected, if not exactly earth-shattering.
(14) The man behind the Cillit Bang kitchen cleaner has shattered British records for executive pay after taking home more then £90m in cash and shares in one year.
(15) • • • In real life, I knew a man once who was the exact opposite of The Red Pill in every regard, and he shattered everything that I believed I knew about men.
(16) Their composure was shattered from the moment Alex McCarthy gifted the visitors an equaliser, all authority wrested away in the blink of an eye and Liverpool , suddenly focused where previously they had been limp and ineffective, the more persuasive threat in what time that remained.
(17) That split came about after Murdoch's newspaper business was shattered by the hacking scandal that rocked his empire and led to the arrest of some of his closest allies and his public humiliation.
(18) "The only glass ceiling that remains is in the process of shattering, and that is that we cannot show what we can do, we don't have a record.
(19) The fragile truce between José Mourinho and Arsène Wenger has finally been shattered after the Chelsea manager denounced his counterpart at Arsenal as "a specialist in failure".
(20) For Ali, the Kenyan court case aims to shatter the notion that rape can be carried out with impunity.