# collapse

Pronunciation: say "kuh-LAPS" /kəˈlæps/

## Verb

1. To break apart and fall down suddenly, as a structure giving way; to cave in.
   - Simple: To break apart and fall down all at once.
   - _Engineers warned the bridge might collapse under the weight of modern traffic._
   - _Several mine shafts collapsed during the earthquake, trapping workers below._
2. To break down without warning and stop working altogether.
   - Simple: To stop working or fail suddenly and completely.
   - _Without emergency funding, the hospital system could collapse within months._
   - _The peace negotiations collapsed when neither side would compromise on borders._
3. To lose consciousness and fall to the floor or ground, as from exhaustion or illness; to faint.
   - Simple: To suddenly fall to the ground because you faint or are too weak to stand.
   - _Exhausted hikers can collapse from heatstroke on exposed trails._
   - _The singer collapsed onstage midway through the second act._
5. To cause something to fall down, cave in, or fold compactly.
   - Simple: To make something break and fall down, or fold it up small.
   - _The demolition crew collapsed the stadium's upper deck in a controlled blast._
   - _Paramedics collapse the gurney's legs before sliding it into the ambulance._
6. To fold compactly, as into a flatter or more portable form.
   - Simple: To fold up into a small, flat shape.
   - _The telescope's tripod collapses to fit inside a backpack._
   - _These market stalls collapse within minutes once the vendors finish for the day._
7. To hide the nested entries under an item in an outline, folder tree, or table of contents, leaving only the item showing.
   - Simple: To hide the smaller items inside a folder or list on a screen.
   - _Collapse the sidebar's project folders to focus on the file you're editing._
   - _The reader collapsed every chapter heading to scan the table of contents quickly._
8. In cricket, to suffer a batting collapse, losing a string of wickets in quick succession for very few runs.
   - Simple: In cricket, to lose several batters one after another while scoring very few runs.
   - _England collapsed from 200 for two to 230 all out before tea._
   - _Sides batting last on a worn pitch often collapse against quality spin._

## Noun

4. The act or process of falling down, caving in, or failing suddenly and completely.
   - Simple: The sudden falling down or failure of something.
   - _Investigators traced the building's collapse to corroded support beams._
   - _The collapse of the regime came faster than any diplomat had predicted._
9. Ellipsis of batting collapse. — Ellipsis of batting collapse.
   - Simple: Short for batting collapse. Used in cricket when a team loses many batters quickly while scoring few runs.
   - _India's collapse from 180 for three left the bowlers with too few runs to defend._
   - _Commentators sensed a collapse coming as soon as the second new ball began to swing._
10. In automata theory, a constant or one-valued function that maps every input to the same single output, particularly one whose application causes a reset.
   - Simple: In math, a rule that gives the same answer no matter what you put in.
   - _Applying the collapse moves the automaton to its reset state regardless of its current configuration._
   - _The machine's transition table defines a collapse that maps each state to state zero._

## Origin

From Latin collāpsus, the past participle of collābor.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/collapse (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).