cratering

cratering is the present participle and gerund of crater.

Meaning of crater

crater (third-person singular simple present craters, present participle cratering, simple past and past participle cratered)

To form craters in a surface.
(figuratively) To collapse catastrophically; to become devastated or completely destroyed.
- Yup, John McCain said to me the economy “is about to crater.” You folks worried about the economy? Whoo! Not me.2008 November 25, David Letterman, quoting John McCain, “‘The Economy Is Exploding’”, in NYTimes blog
Synonyms:

implode, hollow out, tank
To crash or fall.
- He cratered into that snow bank about five seconds after his first lesson.
To die from fall damage.

cratering (plural craterings)

The creation of a crater on a surface.
- Is the Minister in a position to give the results of ithe Garda investigation of the two latest allegations of deliberate crossings and craterings of Irish roads?1971, Ireland. Oireachtas. Dáil, Parliamentary debates; official report: - Volume 256, page 602
- Major craterings are quite apparent on the older and non-reworked faces of the other planets and their satellites.2010, John Engledew, The Tungus Event, Or, The Great Siberian Meteorite, →ISBN, page 144

plural	craterings

What does cratering mean?: Cratering means the creation of a crater on a surface.
What is cratering the present participle and gerund of?: Cratering is the present participle and gerund of crater.
What part of speech is cratering?: Cratering is a noun.
What is the plural of cratering?: The plural of cratering is craterings.

Adapted from Wiktionary: cratering (page history and authors); crater (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “cratering.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cratering. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.