physically or spiritually devastating; often used in combination; " a crushing blow"; " a crushing rejection"; " bone- crushing"

That crushes; overwhelming.

It was as if an invisible hand were crushing her to the earth. – The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories by Ethel M. Dell

With us three lads to lend a hand, the struggle was soon brought to an end, and when we had bound and gagged the stranger so securely that he could not have made the slightest sound had his life depended on it, I turned to Silas, crushing his hands in mine as I cried, giving no heed to the possibility that there might be more enemies on the outside: We have got you, lad, from out the lion's jaws! – The Minute Boys of Boston by James Otis

You do seem a little that way; there, go away, you are crushing my flowers. – A Heart-Song of To-day by Annie Gregg Savigny

Either the hand of the Lord, or the hand of crushing chance, had been heavy upon him. – Paul Faber, Surgeon by George MacDonald

" If nothing is done by us, and the war goes on, as it may, for some years, we may easily be paying thirty, forty, or fifty millions, and generations to come will have to bear a crushing load. – John Redmond's Last Years by Stephen Gwynn

Terence had approached Oporto, and encamped in a large wood, when the fugitives brought him news of the crushing defeat that they had suffered. – With Moore At Corunna by G. A. Henty

Grampus having once looked through the book, no longer wanted any urging to write the most crushing of replies. – Impressions of Theophrastus Such by George Eliot

Even now, when the full horror of what she had so suddenly realized, assailed her with a crushing blow that would have stunned a weaker nature, she contrived to pull herself together and to continue the dance to the end. – Petticoat Rule by Emmuska Orczy, Baroness Orczy

Then Barrington delivered a crushing blow. – True and Other Stories by George Parsons Lathrop

Marjorie, he said, very tenderly, it is a hard blow, and I don't wonder it is crushing you. – Marjorie's New Friend by Carolyn Wells

His successes were contrasted in the ordinary mind with the crushing defeat at Bull Run, which happened at about the same time. – Abraham Lincoln and the Union A Chronicle of the Embattled North, Volume 29 In The Chronicles Of America Series by Nathaniel W. Stephenson

Never let him learn, more than you can help it, the crushing bitterness of fear. – Ernest Maltravers, Complete by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

And I believe that if he had succeeded in securing ten, he would have handed them all back to me with the most sincere conviction that every one of the ten must prove a crushing addition to the weight of my discomfiture. – The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet by George Bernard Shaw

With a little cry she covered her face with her hands, crushing the palms where his kiss had lain against her shaking lips. – The Moon out of Reach by Margaret Pedler

Of the crushing of souls, however, my story does not yet treat, and I will not linger round subjects so awful. – The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight by Elizabeth von Arnim

As I stooped to lift her, I felt a big hand grip my arm and then a heavy, crushing weight press down upon my head. – The Harbor by Ernest Poole

She still wrinkled her forehead and crumpled up her nose, but it was no longer in the old saucy way; it was under her share of the heavy burden of trouble which had fallen on these dauntless girls and might end by crushing them. – A Houseful of Girls by Sarah Tytler

It is crushing me to death. – A Queen's Error by Henry Curties

There were no dreams left, only a crushing numbling reality. – The Shadow of the East by E. M. Hull