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# crumble

«crumble» in Mova's school dictionary: **to break into small pieces** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (crumble, crumbles, crumbled, crumbling); noun (a crumble, crumbles)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To crumble is to break into small pieces. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crumble/#m1)

2) To crumble something is to break it into small pieces with your fingers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crumble/#m2)

3) A crumble is a baked pudding of fruit covered with a crumbly mix of flour, butter and sugar. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crumble/#m3)

4) To crumble can mean to slowly fall apart or fail. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crumble/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In cooking lessons pupils rub flour and butter into crumbs to make an apple or rhubarb crumble. In science weathering makes rocks crumble over time; dry soil crumbles. In stories old castle walls crumble. Phrases: apple crumble, crumble into pieces, crumbling walls, that's the way the cookie crumbles (that's life).

### examples

- The dry biscuit crumbled in my hand. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crumble/#x1)
- Crumble the cheese over the salad. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crumble/#x2)
- We made apple crumble with custard. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crumble/#x3)
- The old castle walls are crumbling. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crumble/#x4)
- Frost and rain make rocks crumble. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crumble/#x5)
- Crumble the bread for the ducks. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crumble/#x6)
- His sandcastle crumbled when the wave came. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crumble/#x7)
- 'Crumble those three loaves for the ants,' he said. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crumble/#x8)

### note

Regular verb (crumbled). The noun «crumble» (pudding) is mainly British, Irish, Australian and New Zealand; in the USA a similar dish is called a «crisp» or «cobbler». Small pieces are «crumbs»; «crumbly» describes food that crumbles easily.

### In the corpora

- [Cliff edges can crumble without warning.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/47-hiking-and-the-outdoors/21/)
- [Stay well back from cliff edges and behind any fence, because edges can crumble.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/230-hiking-and-camping/9/)
- [Stay back from river banks, especially after rain, because they can be slippery or crumble.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/231-campfires-and-rivers/15/)
- [Dry sand crumbles, so she wets it, and it holds its shape.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/244-building-and-making-things/10/)
- [Stay well back from cliff edges and behind any fence, because edges can crumble and a fall can be deadly.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/299-parks-playgrounds-woods-and-hiking/20/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «crumble» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crumble/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.