1
as in to incapacitate
to cause severe or permanent injury to
the car crash may have crippled two people for life
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2
as in to injure
to reduce the soundness, effectiveness, or perfection of
the collision so severely crippled the ship that it had to be towed into port
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3
as in to paralyze
to render powerless, ineffective, or unable to move
a wave of strikes crippled that nation's steel industry
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Recent Examples of cripple
These efforts, if successful, would cripple our state’s autonomy under the Constitution to govern law and order.
—
Krista Kafer, Denver Post, 8 Sep. 2025
Tony and Ziva race to the scene, finding the place crippled by a power outage followed by a ransom request for 115 million Euros.
—Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 4 Sep. 2025
The last time active-duty military was sent to Chicago against the wishes of local officials was on July 4, 1894, according to the archives of the Chicago Tribune, when a labor dispute at a Pullman factory crippled the nation’s rail industry and resulted in days of rioting.
—Andy Rose, CNN Money, 3 Sep. 2025
Brody is looking at the clock and urging action to cripple the enemy’s ability to do anything else.
—Pete Hammond, Deadline, 2 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cripple
Krista Kafer, Denver Post, 8 Sep. 2025
Tony and Ziva race to the scene, finding the place crippled by a power outage followed by a ransom request for 115 million Euros.
—Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 4 Sep. 2025
The last time active-duty military was sent to Chicago against the wishes of local officials was on July 4, 1894, according to the archives of the Chicago Tribune, when a labor dispute at a Pullman factory crippled the nation’s rail industry and resulted in days of rioting.
—Andy Rose, CNN Money, 3 Sep. 2025
Brody is looking at the clock and urging action to cripple the enemy’s ability to do anything else.
—Pete Hammond, Deadline, 2 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cripple
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cripple
Verb
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By setting up permissions in advance, the agent (individual with the power to act on behalf of someone else) can step in immediately if the account owner is incapacitated.—
Kristin McKenna,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
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In addition to grandmaster status, Myers is also a fourth degree in hosinsool, a self-defense technique used to protect, disarm and incapacitate an attacker, focusing on practicality to end a dangerous situation quickly with powerful strikes, locks and take-downs.—
Nicole Stracek,
Twin Cities,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Most recently, he was badly injured after a high–speed car crash in New Hampshire in August.—
Washington Examiner Staff,
The Washington Examiner,
18 Sep. 2025
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Two Fort Worth firefighters were injured while battling a two-alarm fire at the house.—
Shambhavi Rimal,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
18 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Because her brother is paralyzed after an attack on a Charlotte Area Transit System bus in March.—
Andrew Dys,
Charlotte Observer,
15 Sep. 2025
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Congress does not fail to act on guns because it is paralyzed.—
John J. Donohue,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The company's upcoming controls will allow parents to link their ChatGPT account with their teen's via email, set blackout hours for when their teen can't use the chatbot, manage which features to disable, guide how the chatbot responds and receive notifications if the teen is in acute distress.—
Ashley Capoot,
CNBC,
16 Sep. 2025
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Sturm hasn’t been disabled anywhere but Trials of Osiris at this point, but that may change soon.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
16 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Using abrasive cleaner or products with harsh chemicals can damage the beautiful material and lead to a less-than-pretty tub.—
Ashlyn Needham,
Southern Living,
14 Sep. 2025
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But posting on social media leaves a record, and in times of escalating political polarization, those declarations can be seen as damaging to the reputation of an individual or their employer.—
Nino Paoli,
Fortune,
14 Sep. 2025
Verb
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This slow adoption stems from a low tolerance for errors, past disappointments with AI and a belief that years of legal training shouldn't be undermined by machine learning—all valid perspectives widely discussed in the industry.—
Matthew Sole,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
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Here's one simple mistake that can undermine all your pasta-making efforts.—
Katie Rosenhouse,
Southern Living,
17 Sep. 2025
Verb
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That same day, a student opened fire at a Colorado high school, critically wounding two peers.—
Juliana Kim,
NPR,
17 Sep. 2025
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In the past two years, more than 10% of the population has been killed or wounded - including tens of thousands of children - and that number only continues to rise.—
Saajan Jogia,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The disruptions come amid a WNBA season in which multiple games were marred by the objects making appearances on the court.—
Anna Lazarus Caplan,
PEOPLE,
8 Sep. 2025
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Each death was devastating to relatives and friends left behind, and the first decades of the twentieth century were marred by individual grief on a global scale.—
Alice Vernon
September 8,
Literary Hub,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cripple.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cripple. Accessed 20 Sep. 2025.
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