collapse

[kəˈlæps]

Definition:
1. To fall down or fall in suddenly, often after breaking apart.
2. An abrupt failure of function or health.
3. A mishap caused by something suddenly falling down or caving in.
4. The act of throwing yourself down.
5. A sudden large decline of business or the prices of stocks (especially one that causes additional failures).
6. Break down, literally or metaphorically.
7. Collapse due to fatigue, an illness, or a sudden attack.

Use 'collapse' in a sentence:

1. She looked ready to collapse at any minute.
2. This works in both directions: beggars become kings, palaces collapse into shelters.
3. Unfortunately, because this approach fails to deal with the underlying causes of inflation, wage and price controls eventually collapse, the hitherto-repressed inflation resurfaces.
4. Larger and larger villages became possible, but this also made the system vulnerable to collapse.
5. The article predicates that the market collapse was caused by weakness of the dollar.
6. The drainage system has collapsed because of too much rain.
7. It is all an attitude, and one day the attitude will become a weird cramp, a pain, and then it will collapse.
8. During a 1995 roof collapse, a fire fighter named Donald Herbert was left brain damaged.
9. The earthquake was the occasion of the building's collapse.
10. Although church ritual had sustained an interest in timekeeping throughout the centuries of urban collapse that followed the fall of Rome, church time was nature's time.
11. While taller wheat competed better for sunlight, they had a tendency to collapse under the weight of extra grain—a trait called lodging.
12. Once again people began to argue whether Notre Dame Cathedral was going to collapse even without the fire.
13. Now a third and far more significant motivation presents itself: meeting these goals may be necessary to prevent the collapse of our civilization.
14. The collapse of their isolated civilization, Diamond writes, is a "worst-case scenario for what may lie ahead of us in our own future".
15. The second was the earthquake that hit China's Sichuan Province in 2008, causing the collapse of poorly constructed buildings.
16. She was taken to hospital after her collapse at work.
17. The peace talks were on the verge of collapse.
18. The governor called for an inquiry into the motorway's collapse.
19. The collapse of the army left a vacuum in the area.
20. A few days after his collapse he was sitting up in bed.
21. Without this muscular action, inhaling is like sucking air out of a balloon—the narrow passages tend to collapse.
22. It was also felt that the collapse of the system opened up new possibilities.
23. The collapse of the company will have repercussions for the whole industry.
24. The emerging consensus around the bill is a sign that legislators are getting frightened about a politically embarrassing short-term collapse at the USPS.
25. The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.
26. An expectable aberration in the climatic regime may have been enough to cause the collapse of the village.
27. When I get home I like to collapse on the sofa and listen to music.
28. I lost my job and it was like my world collapsed.
29. The firm collapsed amid allegations of fraud.
30. The regime finally collapsed after 25 years of misrule.
31. The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented.
32. It's merely a question of time before the business collapses.
33. The building is in danger of collapsing.
34. The system is in imminent danger of collapse.
35. The walls were strengthened to protect them from collapse.
36. The roof collapsed, showering us with dust and debris.
37. Do they realize we are racing toward complete economic collapse?
38. Hundreds of lives were threatened when the building collapsed.
39. The weaker dot-coms have collapsed.
40. The building collapsed as an indirect result of the heavy rain.
41. Today, the European Union is creating a $580 billion fund to ward off sovereign collapse.
42. Slowly, he clawed his way out from under the collapsed building.
43. The wall collapsed under the strain.
44. Jack collapsed in agony on the floor.
45. The bridge is liable to collapse at any moment.
46. The central portion of the bridge collapsed.
47. All opposition to the plan has collapsed.
48. He collapsed in the street and died two hours later.
49. The table collapses for easy storage.
50. Matt collapsed into giggles and hung up the phone.
51. The pillars gave way and a section of the roof collapsed.
52. The bridge collapsed without warning.
53. He flung off his coat and collapsed on the sofa.
54. Our continuing failure to deal with the environmental declines that are undermining the world food economy forces me to conclude that such a collapse is possible.
55. Their economy is teetering on the brink of collapse.