I am learning English. what is difference between "squash" and "squeeze". For example 1) squash the lemon. 2) squeeze the lemon. Thanks.
3 Answers
'Squeeze' means to apply pressure or some kind of pushing/pressing force to something.
'Squash' means to apply so much pressure that the thing loses its original shape. It has the sense of making something flat. Usually (but not always) the original shape is permanently lost.
The main difference is that squeezing something doesn't necessarily mean altering its shape permanently, whereas squashing usually does. For example, you can squeeze an apple with your hand but it will probably retain its shape. But let's say a car rolled over that apple - now it would be squashed.
Another example is a tennis ball. You can squeeze it with your hand but you couldn't apply enough pressure to squash it with your hand. If you put it in a hydraulic press, you could squash the tennis ball temporarily into a flat shape, but it would revert to its original shape when the press was released.
In the case of a lemon, squeezing it means applying enough pressure to release the juice. You will probably change the shape of it but it wouldn't be flat. But if continue to keep applying a lot of force until the lemon now becomes flat, you could then technically say that you squashed the lemon. In fact, the word 'squash' in British English can also refer to a diluted juice drink. The concentrated fruit juice component was extracted by passing the fruit through a press - this action was more like squashing than squeezing, hence the name. Or so the theory goes.
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In practice a tennis ball that was squashed flat in an hydraulic press would burst - not that this detracts from your explanation. Nov 27, 2018 at 13:37
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I had some vague memory of seeing a tennis ball being squashed and bouncing back to its original shape. But I will gladly defer to you on this as I know very little about hydraulic presses :) Perhaps a sold rubber ball would have been a better example.– kandymanNov 27, 2018 at 14:39
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I barely scraped through Physics at school so I'll gladly split the difference. Nov 27, 2018 at 17:09
Not really different, squeeze is more of an action. We dont say squash in America. But i found it funny seeing the flavor lemon squash hi-chew and thought it had the vegetable squash in it. But its more like lemonade. Lemon juice with sugar and water
Squash is also a drink of any flavour bought in a plastic bottle "usually Robinsons" that a little is poured into a glass or beaker and diluted with tap or bottled water. It is also called - example orange juice, but it is not the same as concentrate or not from concentrate or freshly squeezed juices usually drank at breakfast time or to get a vitamin boost and which often are in cartons, but plastic bottles are used too..
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This does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post; instead, provide answers that don't require clarification from the asker. - From Review– mdeweyNov 19, 2021 at 13:28