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Added 9 October 2026

collapse

/kəˈlæps/ verb

In Latin: ruō Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about collapse at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To break apart and fall down suddenly; to cave in.
The wall collapsed when it was hit by the wrecking ball.
To cease to function due to a sudden breakdown; to fail suddenly and completely.
Pyramid schemes tend to generate profits for a while and then collapse.
To fold compactly.

noun

The act of collapsing.
She suffered a terrible collapse after slipping on the wet floor.
Constant function, one-valued function (in automata theory) (in particular application causing a reset). (Can we add an example for this sense?)
Ellipsis of batting collapse.

Origin

From Latin collāpsus (past participle of collābor).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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