Crushing is most common without a following preposition in phrases like crushing defeat or crushing pressure. Some combinations such as crushing on someone belong to informal fixed expressions.
Crushing is usually used directly before a noun: crushing blow, crushing disappointment. In informal English, a crush can be followed by on for romantic attraction: crushing on someone. Other prepositions usually belong to the wider sentence, not to crushing itself.
These forms are not interchangeable. Choose the construction by meaning, not by which preposition appears most often.
Crushing commonly appears before nouns to describe something emotionally, physically, or politically overwhelming.
In informal speech, crushing on someone means having a strong romantic interest in them.
The noun crushing can take of when referring to the act of crushing something.
The same subject can take different constructions because each sentence answers a different question.
Some combinations appear in real text but do not mean what learners often assume.
Crushing on is only the informal attraction expression.
✕ a crushing on defeat ✓ a crushing defeatCrushing usually goes directly before a noun.
✕ crushing of pressure ✓ crushing pressureCrushing of is mainly a noun pattern, not an adjective pattern.
✕ the crushing of disappointed fans ✓ the crushing disappointment of fansIn usually belongs to another part of the sentence.
✕ She felt crushing in the meeting ✓ She felt crushing pressure in the meetingChoose the expression that matches the intended meaning.
Paste the complete sentence below. Linguix checks the preposition together with grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style.
Yes. Crushing on someone is an informal expression mainly used in conversation.
Yes. That is the most common pattern: crushing defeat, crushing burden, crushing blow.
No. It is natural when crushing is a noun meaning the act of destroying or pressing something.
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