crash // noun, verb

■ noun [C]

1

a sudden serious fall in the price or value of sth; the occasion when a business, etc. fails:

a crash in share prices

the dot-com crash

The crash in the property market left millions of people with huge debt.

a bank/financial/property/stock market crash

2 (IT )

a sudden failure of a computer or software:

We believe the system crash was caused by disk failure.

■ verb

1 [no obj]

to lose value or fail suddenly and quickly:

Share prices crashed to an all-time low yesterday.

The business crashed with debts of €80 million.

The oil crises helped cause the market to crash.

2 (IT ) [+ obj or no obj]

(about a computer or software) to suddenly stop or be stopped from working because there is a fault:

The virus crashed our computer network.

The system keeps crashing.

The server was unable to handle the traffic and crashed.

IDIOMS

crash and burn (informal)

to fail in a dramatic way:

Why do some teams fly and other crash and burn?

• reliable
• reliance
• relief
• relieve
• relocate
• remainder
• remarket
• remedy
• reminder
• remission
• remit
• remittance
• remortgage
• remote
• removable
• removal
• remove
• remover
• remunerate
• remuneration
• remuneration package
• remunerative
• rename
• render
• renege