collapse

v

1. cave in, tumble down, founder, give way, crumple, crumple up, fall down, fall inward or outward, come apart; crumble, fall into pieces, break into fragments, break apart, fall into ruin; be demolished, be torn down, be felled, be pulled down, be cut down.

2. break down, break, go to pieces; stop working, Sl. conk out, Sl. go kaput, Inf. peter out, Inf. fizzle out, die out; go to pot, Inf. go to the dogs, go to wrack and ruin; explode, blow up, fulminate, burst, detonate.

3. miscarry, abort, go wrong, misfire, fall through, not succeed, backfire, fall flat; flounder, falter, slip, trip, blunder, stumble; crash, smash up, crack up, meet with disaster, go up in smoke, shipwreck, run aground; go into a tailspin, Inf. nose-dive, decline rapidly; miss the mark, miss the boat, Sl. blow it, Sl. bomb, Sl. lay an egg, Sl. strike out, wash out, come to nothing; flunk out, Inf. not be up to snuff; fail, fall short, stop short of, fall by the wayside, Sl. flop; go amiss, go astray.

4. go out of business, go bankrupt, go to the wall, Inf. go on the rocks, go under, Inf. go broke, Inf. fold up, close down, default on payment, become insolvent, be ruined.

5. surrender, acknowledge defeat, suffer defeat, fall victim, fall prey; be overthrown, be checkmated, be impotent, be incapacitated, be hamstrung, be undermined; have the wind taken out of one's sails, have the ground cut out from under one, not have a leg to stand on.

6. sicken, take sick, become ill, be stricken; weaken, lose vigor, be on the ropes, be on one's last legs, Sl. be on the downslide, lose ground, take a turn for the worse, go downhill; faint, swoon, keel over, buckle, fall prostrate, pass out; dwindle, decline, decay, deteriorate; pine away, languish, fade away, droop, slump, bog down, sink; give out, give way, succumb, pass away, Sl. kick the bucket, lick or bite the dust.

7.(all usu. of psychological or emotional health) crack, let go, come apart at the seams, go to pieces, Sl. lose it, Sl. lose one's cool, break down, suffer a nervous breakdown.

n

8. cave-in, breakdown, foundering, toppling down, falling into pieces, falling apart, breaking apart; calamity, catastrophe, cataclysm, disaster, devastation, desolation, deluge, havoc, destruction, demolition; prostration, leveling, felling, tearing down; smash, smash-up, crash, crack-up; explosion, fulmina-tion, burst, detonation, rupture, break; malfunction, wearing out, Sl. conking out.

9. failure, fiasco, unsuccessfulness, Inf. comedown, reversal; abortion, miscarriage, vain attempt; Inf. flop, Inf. let down, Sl. washout; downfall, fall, debacle, overthrow, ruin; defeat, checkmate, discomfiture, rout; bankruptcy, insolvency.

10. sudden illness, attack, relapse, stroke, seizure; exhaustion, prostration, weakness, debility; dissolution, disintegration, decay, termination; tailspin, nose dive; (all usu. of emotional or psychological health) nervous breakdown, going to pieces, coming apart at the seams, cracking, Sl. losing it, surrender, giving in, giving way.