crash
noun · adjective · verb
Simple meaning
A sudden, intense, loud sound, as made for example by cymbals.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
krashIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɹæʃ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A sudden, intense, loud sound, as made for example by cymbals.
An automobile, airplane, or other vehicle accident.
computing
A malfunction of computer software or hardware which causes it to shut down or become partially or totally inoperable.
informal
A comedown from a drug.
adjective
Quick, fast, intensive, impromptu.
verb
intransitive
To collide with something destructively; to fall or come down violently.
“The branch crashed down on my car.”
transitive
To cause something to collide with something else, especially when this results in damage.
Make a sudden loud sound
“The waves crashed on the shore and kept us awake all night.”
To make a sudden loud noise.
intransitive
To experience a period of depression and/or lethargy after a period of euphoria, as after the euphoric effect of a psychotropic drug has dissipated.
Undergo a sudden and severe downturn
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A sudden, intense, loud sound, as made for example by cymbals.
Used this way, crash is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Sudden and forceful
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Nearby words
- clangor , rarer, so it draws attention
- clangour , used mainly in Regional English
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Makeverb
“The waves crashed on the shore and kept us awake all night.”
Collideverb
“The branch crashed down on my car.”
More ways to use crash
- “My son's friends crashed our house last weekend.”verb
- “The branch crashed down on my car.”verb
- “The waves crashed on the shore and kept us awake all night.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A rapid and intense course of training or research (usually undertaken in an emergency).
Descend steeply and rapidly.
A padded helmet worn by people riding bicycles or motorcycles.
Make an emergency landing.
An emergency landing under circumstances where a normal landing is impossible (usually damaging the aircraft).
A rapid and intense course of training or research (usually undertaken in an emergency).
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.