[
UK
/kəlˈæps/
]
[ US /kəˈɫæps/ ]
[ US /kəˈɫæps/ ]
VERB
-
lose significance, effectiveness, or value
The stock market collapsed
The school system is collapsing - collapse due to fatigue, an illness, or a sudden attack
-
break down, literally or metaphorically
The wall collapsed
The business collapsed
The wall gave in
The roof finally gave under the weight of the ice
The dam broke
The roof collapsed - suffer a nervous breakdown
-
fall apart
Negotiations broke down
the building crumbled after the explosion -
fold or close up
fold up your umbrella
collapse the music stand -
cause to burst
The ice broke the pipe
NOUN
-
an abrupt failure of function or complete physical exhaustion
the commander's prostration demoralized his men - a sudden large decline of business or the prices of stocks (especially one that causes additional failures)
-
a natural event caused by something suddenly falling down or caving in
the roof is in danger of collapse
the collapse of the old star under its own gravity -
the act of throwing yourself down
he landed on the bed with a great flop
How To Use collapse In A Sentence
- He pulled himself up and stumbled to the bathroom, where he turned on the cold tap and collapsed at the bottom of the shower, barely awake.
- If it were a little more curved it would collapse, imploding on itself in a cosmic crunch; a little less curved, and every star, planet, sun and galaxy would fly apart from each other and so would every atom of matter in each of them.
- In the course of what I have to say, the distinction between morality as convenience and morality as ideal will virtually collapse, along with a good deal else.
- The effect would be a level of military involvement that would serve to collapse the distinction between inspection and invasion/occupation.
- As time went on, these cartoons got even worse and eventually collapsed with the folding of the company.
- This construction of a new world order comes from a naïive and untraveled President, emboldened in his ignorance by advisors who have been plotting an aggressive Pax Americana ever since the Soviet bloc's collapse.
- Indeed, so many of us now possess a handset that mobile phone sales have collapsed.
- With the collapse of the Soviet economy, prisons could no longer function as an industrial monolith.
- Troops found the church with large holes blasted out of its cement walls and its tin roof collapsed.
- One of the chief reasons for removing old, oil and gas wells from south Louisiana's lakes and bayous is that those areas are vulnerable to storms and hurricanes, and any collapse in structures could threaten the public, Lopez said. Susan Buchanan: Louisiana Removes Defunct Oil Wells But Hazards Remain