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crushed rock

crushed rock

1 3.0
Small pieces of rock made by crushing larger stones and used for paths and building
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : piedra triturada
  • The driveway was topped with crushed rock to improve drainage and enhance its appearance.
  • gravel or crushed rock
  • crushed rock surface
  • crushed rock path

Examples

  • Almost instantly it turned black, disappearing against the crushed rock of the path.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Fulford adds that there is no reason to put in screened crushed rock for working surfaces like these. "Screened two-inch stone doesn't hold nearly as well as a mix of small and large particles that settle in.

    Academic text (1996)
  • To create a gravel pathway, begin by spreading a layer of crushed rock over the ground and compacting it.

  • After the rain, the garden looked beautiful with crushed rock highlighting the walkway.

Synonyms

gravel
vscrushed rock
99 1.4

Small loose stones and pebbles used on paths or driveways

is specifically fragments formed by mechanically crushing larger stones
aggregate
vscrushed rock
  • Specialized
4 6.1

Pieces of sand, gravel, or crushed stone used with cement to make concrete

is used as general construction or landscaping fragment rather than as concrete ingredient

How Fine

sand
485 1.0
gravel
99 1.4
crushed rock
  • Specialized
1 3.0
cobblestone
18 4.0
boulder
191 2.2

Surface Forms

crushed rock singular
crushed rocks plural

Morphology

crush + rock

The phrase denotes rock that has been physically crushed, which a B1 learner can infer from 'crush' (apply pressure) + 'rock' (stone) with the past-participle form functioning as an adjectival modifier. This is a regular, compositional noun phrase pattern found across languages and thus readily predictable from the constituents.

Etymology

Crushed rock shows a simple picture: a rock that has been crushed by machines into small pieces. These little stones are used to make driveways and paths or to help make the ground strong, so the phrase means 'small pieces or pebbles of rock' used in building.