cripple
[verb]
Synonyms:
- disable, hamstring, incapacitate, lame, maim, paralyse, weaken
- damage, destroy, impair, put out of action, put paid to, ruin, spoil

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Related Words: lame

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. crip‧ple¹ /ˈkrɪpəl/ noun [countable]
[Language: Old English; Origin: crypel]

1. old-fashioned someone who is unable to walk properly because their legs are damaged or injured – now considered offensive ⇒ disabled

2. emotional cripple informal someone who cannot express their feelings to other people – used to show disapproval

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. cripple² verb [transitive]

1. old-fashioned to hurt someone badly so that they cannot walk properly Synonym : disable:
She was crippled in a car accident.

2. to damage something badly so that it no longer works or is no longer effective:
Industry is being crippled by high interest rates.
—crippled adjective:
landing the crippled plane

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

cripple
verb
I. injure
ADV. for life, permanently As a child she contracted polio and was crippled for life.
PHRASES be crippled with He's eighty and crippled with arthritis.
leave sb crippled The disease left him crippled.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

cripple
II. damage
ADV. financially The industry has been financially crippled by these policies.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲