crush ‧ ing /ˈkrʌʃɪŋ/ BrE AmE adjective [usually before noun]
1 . very hard to deal with, and making you lose hope and confidence:
The Eighth Army had suffered a crushing defeat.
Failing his final exams was a crushing blow (=made him lose hope and confidence) .
the crushing burden of debt
2 . a crushing remark, reply etc contains a very strong criticism
—crushingly adverb :
‘That’s fairly obvious,’ she replied crushingly.