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Glite Dictionary
to crash land

to crash land

15 4.6
To put a plane or helicopter down quickly in an emergency, often causing damage
  • phrasal verb
  • /kræʃ lænd/
translation icon : aterrizar de emergencia
  • The pilot made a quick decision to crash land the plane in a nearby field to avoid a disaster.
  • a plane crash-landed
  • a jet crash-landed
  • the pilot crash-landed

Yes, as you can see, a UFO has crash landed into the world.

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Examples

  • The C-130 has crash landed just outside of St. Louis.

    MegaFault (2009)

  • On the fifth of October this year, that shuttle crash-landed.

    Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)

  • How many people in a plane about to crash land start praying?

    Blog text (5)

  • We just crash-landed... in the middle of God knows where.

    Sasquatch (2002)

  • We can crash-land on Mars.

    The Martian (2015)

  • A United States military plane crash-landed in Surrey this evening, just missing Waverley Abbey.

    The Mummy (2017)

  • We're preparing to crash-land.

    The Purple Plain (1954)

  • We've crash-landed on an uncharted celestial body.

    65 (2023)

  • We crash-landed in Dubrovnik!

    Celebrity (1998)

  • June 6, 1944, the Horsa British glider crash-landed alongside the Caen Canal in Northern France.

    Academic text (2009)

Synonyms

to put down
vsto crash land
  • Specialized
28 5.8

To land a plane in an emergency

is an emergency landing that often causes damage rather than routine ones
to ditch
vsto crash land
  • Specialized
7 7.3

To make an emergency landing, often on water

is an emergency landing not limited to water and often causes damage
to belly-land
vsto crash land
  • Specialized
1 9.1

To land a plane on its bottom without using the wheels in an emergency

is an emergency landing often causing damage but not necessarily on the underside
to force-land
vsto crash land
  • Specialized
8.8

To make an aircraft land unexpectedly because of engine failure or bad weather

is an emergency landing often causing damage while avoiding complete destruction

How Controlled

to touch down
45 3.6
to land
∞ 1.0
to crash land
15 4.6
to ditch
  • Specialized
7 7.3

Surface Forms

crash land infinitive
crash landed past
crash landed past participle
crash landing present participle
crash lands third person singular

Morphology

crash + land

The meaning 'to land an aircraft in an emergency, often causing damage' is directly inferable from combining 'crash' (to strike or smash) with 'land' (to move down and rest); it describes landing in a crashing or forceful way. This compositional logic is literal and transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably deduce the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Crash land paints a simple, literal picture: a pilot brings a damaged plane down hard so it hits the ground like a crash, with crash showing the hard hit and land meaning to come down. So, it means 'to land in an emergency'.