crumbly Hear it!

crumbly Definition

crum·bly (-blē)

adjective -·blier, -·bli·est

  1. apt to crumble; easily crumbled
  2. crumblike; consisting of crumbs or small particles

crumbly Related Forms
crum·bli·ness noun
crumbly Synonyms

crumbly

modif.

breaking up, breaking down, falling to pieces, friable, fragile, brittle, crisp, short, frangible, apt to crumble, frail, crumbling, disintegrating, decayed, deteriorated, deteriorating, soft, corroded, rusted, rotted, oxidized, worn away, breakable, shivery, powdery, eroded, disintegrated, tumbling down; see also broken 1, decaying, gritty 1.

Antonyms sturdy, firm*, solid.

crumbly Usage Examples

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • make: She does a sort of Shortening, which in culinary terms means making the pastry crumbly to create a nicer effect on the palate.

Modifies a noun

  • texture: Its flavor is creamy and mild with a crumbly texture.
  • compost: Large amounts of clippings dumped on a small heap tend to turn into green slime rather than crumbly compost.
  • cheese: The Greeks stress that this crumbly tangy cheese has been made in Greece from sheep's milk for the past 6,000 years.
  • soil: The finished compost will look like a rich crumbly soil, without a trace of its original contents.
  • rock: An exciting and exposed climb up 300 meters of crumbly rock left them both suitably excited!
  • material: It forms a soft, crumbly material, uniformly dark brown in color.

Modifying Another Word

  • too: If the mixture is too crumbly to form balls, then add a little more melted butter.
  • very: Bat droppings are similar to small mammals but on closer inspection are very crumbly due to the insect contents.
  • quite: The wall has then been filled with what looks like more lime mortar and again is quite crumbly.
  • slightly: At certain times of year the paste becomes firmer and slightly crumbly.
  • somewhat: The ascent of the Wrekin, along the main track, initially found dark fine-grained dolerites, which were very weathered and somewhat crumbly.
  • rather: Other cheeses can be frozen but on defrosting they may become rather crumbly.

Used with adjective complement

  • become: Other cheeses can be frozen but on defrosting they may become rather crumbly.

Preposition: in

  • texture: They are usually classed as soft cheeses but can be crumbly in texture.

Preposition: with

  • bite: Moist and crumbly with a mildly acid bite, which becomes more fruity as it matures.

Browse dictionary entries near crumbly

  1. crumbling
  2. crumble
  3. crumb
  4. cruller
  5. cruising radius
  6. cruiserweight
  7. cruiser
  8. cruise ship
  9. cruise missile
  10. cruise control
  1. crumby
  2. crumhorn
  3. crummy
  4. crump
  5. crumpet
  6. crumple
  7. crumply
  8. crunch
  9. crunchtime
  10. crunchy