崩れかけている
解説 Definition
crumbling は crumble（崩れる、ぼろぼろになる）の現在分詞で、形容詞として「崩れかけている」という意味です。建物・壁・石などが古くなって壊れそうな状態を表します。
Crumbling describes a structure or material that is breaking into small pieces, becoming weak, or gradually falling apart. It is often used of old walls, roofs, bridges, stonework, or other deteriorating objects.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
crumbling は crumble＋-ing で、語末の無音の e を落として作ります。crumble は crumb「パンくず」と結び付き、「くずのように細かく崩れる」が核です。a crumbling wall、roof、bridge のように、古くなって徐々にぼろぼろ崩れる物を思い浮かべます。
Connect crumbling with crumb, a small piece of bread or food. If a wall or roof is crumbling, it is becoming like crumbs: small pieces are breaking away, and the whole structure is weakening. The form comes from crumble plus -ing, with the final silent e dropped: crumble becomes crumbling. Picture a crumbling stone wall beside an old road or a bridge that is slowly becoming unsafe. This word usually suggests gradual deterioration rather than one sudden collapse. Learn the combinations crumbling wall, crumbling roof, crumbling building, and crumbling infrastructure.
例文
They walked past a crumbling stone wall.
彼らは崩れかけている石の壁のそばを歩きました。
The old house had a crumbling roof.
その古い家には崩れかけた屋根がありました。
A crumbling bridge made the road unsafe.
崩れかけている橋のせいで、その道は危険になっていました。
crumbling の類義語・関連語
類義語
crumbling の語源・成り立ち Etymology
crumbling は crumble「ぼろぼろ崩れる」の現在分詞形。crumble は古英語 cruma「パンくず」と結びつき、「くずになるように砕ける」が原感覚なので、崩れかけている様子を自然に表す。関連語に crumb、crumbly。
Crumbling is the present participle of crumble, formed by dropping the final silent e and adding -ing. Crumble developed in Middle English and is related to crumb, whose ancestry reaches Old English cruma, “a small fragment or crumb.” The verb therefore carries the concrete image of breaking into small pieces. Its meaning later extended figuratively to institutions, relationships, confidence, or control that gradually weaken and fall apart, though the present adjectival sense describes physical deterioration.
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