Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Crushed or bent out of shape, often with many creases or wrinkles: Describes something, typically a flexible material like paper or fabric, that has been pressed or squeezed into irregular folds, losing its original smoothness.
   • Collapsed or buckled, as from impact: Describes something, often a rigid structure like metal, that has been deformed, dented, or folded due to force or pressure.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • He pulled a crumpled letter from his pocket. (The letter was folded and wrinkled.)
  • The crumpled fender showed where the car had been hit. (The car's metal fender was bent and dented from the collision.)
  • She tried to smooth out the crumpled sheet on the bed. (The bedsheet was full of wrinkles and creases.)

Advanced Usage

• Figurative Use: Can describe a person's appearance or posture as looking defeated, tired, or disheveled.
  • After the long journey, he looked completely crumpled in his suit. (He appeared wrinkled, untidy, and exhausted.)
• "Crumpled up": Often used with "up" to emphasize the action of crushing something into a ball.
  • He crumpled up the paper and threw it away. (He crushed the paper into a ball.)

Variants and Related Words

• Crumple (verb): To crush something so that it becomes full of folds, or to collapse.
  • The paper will crumple if you squeeze it.
• Uncrumple (verb): To smooth out something that is crumpled. (Less common)
• Crumpledness (noun): The state of being crumpled. (Rare)

Synonyms

• Wrinkled: Having small lines or folds, especially on fabric or skin.
• Creased: Marked with a line or fold.
• Crushed: Pressed so as to break or flatten.
• Rumpled: Disordered and creased (often for fabric or hair).
• Dented: Having a depression in a surface from a blow.

Antonyms

• Smooth: Having an even, regular surface without wrinkles.
• Flat: Level and even.
• Pristine: In its original, perfect condition; unspoiled.

Related Phrasal Verbs/Phrases

• Crumple up: To crush something, like paper, into a loose ball.
  • She crumpled up the failed drawing.
• Crumple under pressure: A figurative idiom meaning to collapse emotionally or fail to cope with stress.
  • Some athletes crumple under the pressure of competition.

Adjective

1. of metal e.g.
   • bent nails
   • a car with a crumpled front end
   • dented fenders