crushed

1. 1
   adjective

   Reduced to small, separate fragments by being pressed or pounded.

   The driveway was paved with crushed limestone.

   She sprinkled crushed walnuts over the salad.

   Similarground

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of crush.

   The avalanche crushed several cabins in the valley.

   Years of drought had crushed the region's harvest.

   Note

   A regular verb, so one spelling does double duty. It serves as the simple past (the avalanche crushed the cabins) and as the participle after have or be (had crushed, was crushed). It carries every meaning of crush, from grinding to subduing, and also the colloquial praise: someone who crushed an interview did it impressively well. After be, the participle slides easily into the "devastated" adjective.

3. 3
   adjective

   Emotionally devastated; deeply saddened or disheartened by a loss or disappointment.

   She was crushed by the news of her friend's death.

   The team left the field crushed after losing the final.

   Similardevastated, heartbroken, shattered, crestfallen, dejected

   Oppositeelated, overjoyed

   Note

   Grief is described here as weight: the figurative crush, to overwhelm by pressure, turned inward. It is gradable (totally crushed, more crushed) and usually names its cause with by or upon hearing. W. B. Maxwell's The Mirror and the Lamp (1918) shows an older edge, calling a poor East End parish crushed by a railway viaduct. In that use the weight is oppression rather than sorrow.

4. 4
   adjective

   Of a fabric, having a surface that looks wrinkled or pressed into irregular folds.

   Crushed velvet curtains gave the room a rich, uneven sheen.

   The designer paired a crushed satin skirt with a plain blouse.

   Note

   A textile finish named for its look: crushed velvet, crushed satin. The cloth has not been damaged. It is made to appear pressed into irregular folds, and the word sits directly before the fabric noun as part of its name. Unlike the "devastated" adjective, it is not graded. A fabric is crushed velvet or it is not, never more crushed.

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