collapse

verb
/kəˈlæps/

To break apart and fall down suddenly; to cave in.

Other meanings

To cease to function due to a sudden breakdown; to fail suddenly and completely.
“Pyramid schemes tend to generate profits for a while and then collapse.”
To fold compactly.

Synonyms

fall in
cave in
give
give way
break
founder

Related words

noncollapsed
semicollapsed
uncollapsed
noncollapsing
collapsable
recollapse
uncollapse
collapsible

Example sentences

“The whole thing is about to collapse.”
Tatoeba · ddnktr · CC0
“What is causing colony collapse disorder?”
Tatoeba · shekitten · CC0
“Whoever walks backward collapses.”
Tatoeba · AmarMecheri · CC0

Word history

From Latin "collāpsus".

Where this comes from

This definition is adapted from “collapse” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.