What does crimple mean?
To crimple is to wrinkle or draw into small, irregular folds, typically through shrinkage or contraction. The word applies most naturally to materials — cloth that puckers after washing, paper that buckles in damp air, metal or plastic that buckles unevenly under heat — and it can be used transitively (the heat crimpled the film) or intransitively (the fabric crimpled at the seams). As a noun, crimple can also denote the resulting wrinkle itself, though this sense is rare. The word belongs to the same family as "crimp" and "crumple," sharing a Germanic root concerned with bending, contraction, and folding. Once reasonably common in craft and commercial writing about textiles, it has largely fallen out of everyday use, supplanted by more familiar terms like "wrinkle," "pucker," and "rumple." Today it survives chiefly in dictionaries, historical trade literature, and occasional literary prose seeking an antique texture — making it a word worth knowing for its precision and pedigree alike.
To wrinkle, pucker, or draw into small folds, especially through shrinkage or contraction.
"The leather crimpled noticeably after being left too close to the fire."
Used both transitively and intransitively; rare outside historical and technical writing.
A wrinkle or small fold produced by contracting or puckering a surface.
"The tailor smoothed out every crimple before pressing the final seam."
This noun sense is uncommon and largely confined to older textile terminology.
As a countable noun denoting individual wrinkles or puckers.
"The old map was covered in fine crimples where moisture had warped the paper."
Before the word 'wrinkle-proof' existed, tailors reached for 'crimple' to describe exactly the puckering they dreaded — a word so old it predates most of modern English's fabric vocabulary.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of crimple
"Crimple" derives from Middle English, where it appeared as a verb meaning to wrinkle or contract, and it belongs to a Germanic family of words built on a root meaning to bend or curl together — the same stock that gave English "crimp," "crumple," and "cramp." Its development parallels that of "crimp": both describe contraction into folds, with "crimple" tending toward the smaller, more puckered effect. The word was established enough by the early modern period to appear in trade and craft contexts, particularly relating to textiles, before gradually falling out of common use.
Related word forms
How crimple is actually used
"Crimple" is now rare and chiefly historical or technical, surviving mainly in older textile and manufacturing texts; writers today almost always choose "wrinkle," "crumple," or "pucker" instead. It carries no strong connotation, but its obscurity can lend prose an archaic flavor.
Easily confused with crimple
"Crumple" means to crush or collapse into irregular folds (often of paper or on impact), while "crimple" specifically describes forming small wrinkles or puckers, often as a result of shrinking.
"Crimp" means to press into small regular ridges or flutes (as with pastry edges or hair), whereas "crimple" refers to wrinkling or puckering rather than deliberate fluting.