Aplastado vs. Machacado

Question

They both mean crushed, but is there a difference?

Answer 1

Hi, Giannamaria!

The basic or starting notions for both verbs are:

1) "Aplastar": To apply pressure or to mash up (usually without breaking apart).

2) "Machacar": Also implies break something into pieces, even tiny pieces.

Nevertheless, in daily life, and specially when we want to translate them into English, we find "crush", "smash", "mash up"... as equivalents for both terms.

Examples:

Machacar:

• Voy a machacar (also "majar") en un mortero las yema de huevo duro con hojas de perejil - I'm going to mash up the hard egg yolk with some parsley leaves in a mortar.

• Machacar (also "pilar") en un mortero los ajos, la pimienta y el pimentón - Crush the garlic, pepper and paprika in a mortar.

• Estoy machacando hojas de menta - I'm smashing some mint leaves.

• Los cazas atacarán uno tras otro para machacar (also "destrozar") los objetivos - The fighter jets will attack one after the other in order to hammer the targets.

• A menudo los extranjeros son machacados (also "atacados") cuando hay crisis económicas - People frequently lash out at foreigners when there is a economic crisis.

• Estoy machacado (also "muerto"). Ha sido un día duro - I am exhausted, It's been a long day.

• El mineral será machacado y molido - The mineral will be crushed and ground.

Aplastar:

• Todos son aplastados (also "apabullados") por la personalidad de Nelson - All of them are overwhelmed by Nelson's personality.

• El gobierno quiere aplastar (also "derrotar completamente") la oposición integrista - The government wants to crush the fundamentalist opposition.

• No seremos aplastados (also "superados") por ninguna dificultad - We will not be overwhelmed by any dificulty.

• Algunos creen que Europa y su cultura serán aplastadas (also "destruidas") - Some think that Europe and its culture will be destroyed.

• Las grandes empresas podrían aplastar (also "barrer") a los pequeños negocios familiares - Big corporations could easily squash small family companies.

• Hay que cambiar el tubo porque está doblado, aplastado, comprimido y retorcido - We need to change the tube because it's folded, flattened, comprised and twisted.

I hope this helps!

Answer 2

Only machacado is used for food crushed or cut into little pieces but not so fine as el puré.

Aplastado is for most other things, ie: Después del choque, su coche quedó bien aplastado. In Mexico it is also a very slang way to say sit, ie: Estoy bien agotado, voy a aplastarme aquí en el sofá.

Answer 3

Machacar is sometimes used for mashing or crushing food.

They served mashed plantains for breakfast at the hotel in the Caribbean.

Sirvieron plátano machacado para el desayuno en el hotel en el Caribe.

You can often figure out from the examples given in the dictionary, whether two words which may translate to the same word in English can be used interchangeably in Spanish.

Another very helpful site for this type of inquiry is context.reverso.net.

There, you can enter a word or phrase in English or Spanish as see complete sentences in English and Spanish and also see the relative frequency of each word's use and the relative frequency of each translation.

Oye, Ken. Hackerking is an old old timer on SD. He used to contribute lots of posts. - Daniela2041, Jun 11, 2017

Answer 4

I haven't heard "machacar", only "aplastar", so at least in my experience it's much less common. This could vary of others though.