cratered

verb

past tense of crater
1
as in collapsed
to be unsuccessful a time when businesses were cratering left and right

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in fell
to go to a lower level especially abruptly the stock price cratered when the company filed for Chapter 11

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for cratered
  1. collapsed
  2. fell
  3. flopped
  4. plunged
  5. failed
  6. tumbled
  7. folded
  8. dipped
Verb
  • The only difference is that, after this race, some of the competitors collapsed to the floor with sparks flying from their insides while safety officials charged over to attend to them with fire extinguishers.
    — Sarah Shephard, New York Times, 1 Sep. 2026
  • And since then, the government collapsed, and gang warfare has spread.
    — Dana Taylor, USA Today, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of collapsed
Verb
  • Rincker, a German immigrant, was known for casting the bell that hung from the first Cook County Courthouse, which was felled by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
    — Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Frightened that she may be plagued by the same mental illness that felled her mom, Gemma stubbornly refuses to believe anything is wrong.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of fell
Verb
  • Clarke’s first two films, with commercial distribution, flopped.
    — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Both flopped — at Chelsea and Manchester United — with their fees widely viewed as excessive even at the time.
    — Conor O'Neill, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of flopped
Verb
  • The number of Americans who report having six or more close friends has plunged by 50% this century, and the number of people reporting no close friends has skyrocketed by 400% over that same time period.
    — Ken Stern, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Rock, ice and mud plunged down for miles, washing away communities along the river.
    — Ava Berger, NPR, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of plunged
Verb
  • Critically, the owner of the footage failed to show any impact on the market for the footage and in fact had never licensed the footage for compensation.
    — Schuyler Moore, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Congress legalized home brewing in 1978 Occasional efforts in recent years to change the law failed to gain traction.
    — Maureen Groppe, USA Today, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of failed
Verb
  • Howmet Aerospace — Shares of the manufacturer of engines for gas turbines tumbled more than 8%.
    — Scott Schnipper, CNBC, 31 Aug. 2026
  • On one page, tiny, antlike sinners tumbled down a cliff toward perdition.
    — Laura Preston, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of tumbled
Verb
  • Tired girl makeup looks poised to stick around, folded into a broader movement toward grunge, indie sleaze and deliberately unpolished beauty.
    — Ashley Lynch, Miami Herald, 28 Aug. 2026
  • The project, originally a standalone story, was folded into the new DCU and received an R-rating.
    — Mark Hughes, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of folded
Verb
  • In 2025-26, his first full season as hockey operations adviser and mentor, Chára dipped his toe into multiple buckets, including management and coaching.
    — Fluto Shinzawa, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026
  • After having climbed all week, bond yields finally dipped slightly Thursday as markets weighed the odds of an interest rate hike this month.
    — Steve Kopack, NBC news, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of dipped
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

crater
cratered
cratering
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Cratered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cratered. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

A List of Most Commonly Confused Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 4
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
anagrams on a chalk board
Word Builder Quiz Vol. 2 Pick the letter that when added to a word will ma...
See All