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
But his personal and party polls are dismal, crippled by what critics and analysts say has been a series of unforced errors.
—
Alexander Smith, NBC news, 12 May 2026
Just a few successful strikes could cripple the region’s oil and gas infrastructure for years if not decades, throwing the world, and the United States, into a prolonged economic crisis.
—Robert Kagan, The Atlantic, 10 May 2026
The 1918 pandemic made clear that a respiratory virus could cripple an army.
—Katrine L. Wallace, The Conversation, 28 Apr. 2026
That has crippled Iran’s two biggest non-oil exports, and higher prices have affected everything from plastics to pipes, to fabrics and packaging for groceries like milk, butter and cheese.
—Amir-Hussein Radjy, Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for cripple
Alexander Smith, NBC news, 12 May 2026
Just a few successful strikes could cripple the region’s oil and gas infrastructure for years if not decades, throwing the world, and the United States, into a prolonged economic crisis.
—Robert Kagan, The Atlantic, 10 May 2026
The 1918 pandemic made clear that a respiratory virus could cripple an army.
—Katrine L. Wallace, The Conversation, 28 Apr. 2026
That has crippled Iran’s two biggest non-oil exports, and higher prices have affected everything from plastics to pipes, to fabrics and packaging for groceries like milk, butter and cheese.
—Amir-Hussein Radjy, Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for cripple
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cripple
Verb
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As the most unlikely scenario becomes a reality, the Walloon minister-president is incapacitated, and his daughter must sign documents in his name.—
Kevin Giraud,
Variety,
19 May 2026
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Campbell’s defense attorney Andrew Courossi claimed that all the encounters were consensual, saying that just because the women were intoxicated doesn’t mean they were incapacitated.—
Colleen Cronin,
Boston Herald,
18 May 2026
Verb
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Police are investigating an east Fort Worth shooting that injured a man Sunday night.—
Harriet Ramos,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
19 May 2026
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Alcaraz injured his wrist at the Barcelona Open last month, forcing him out of the French Open that starts this weekend.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
19 May 2026
Verb
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In fact, too much choice often paralyzes decision-making.—
David Meade,
Forbes.com,
14 May 2026
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Public toilets stopped working, paralyzed without bank payments by mobile internet.—
Mary Ilyushina,
Washington Post,
13 May 2026
Verb
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Flock says that communities using its cameras may grant data access to federal agencies, but that sharing with federal agencies is disabled by default.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
19 May 2026
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That said, Mazda deserves some credit for including a dedicated shortcut button to quickly disable the more intrusive driver assistance alerts — something many motorists will appreciate.—
Matthew MacConnell,
Forbes.com,
18 May 2026
Verb
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While satellite launches mostly produce black carbon, which has a potential to warm the upper atmosphere, satellite re-entries generate aluminum oxides, which can damage the ozone layer.—
Tereza Pultarova,
Space.com,
18 May 2026
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Fallen debris also caused a house in the village of Subbotino to catch fire, while four people were injured when drones damaged several residential blocks in the western town of Istra, TASS reported.—
Kosta Gak,
CNN Money,
17 May 2026
Verb
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Future decisions embracing those limits could further undermine the landmark voting law, long considered the crown jewel of the civil rights movement, and hamper the ability of voting rights groups and individual voters to file lawsuits alleging violations of the measure.—
Melissa Quinn,
CBS News,
18 May 2026
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Sandweg said one of the director's most underappreciated responsibilities is managing that internal fault line, ensuring that ERO's highly visible arrest operations do not undermine HSI's ability to cultivate the confidential informants and foreign partnerships on which its work depends.—
Philip Wang,
Time,
18 May 2026
Verb
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Grainy video footage from those protests reveal the brutality of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, who drag students into the street, viciously beat them and then leave them wounded on the ground.—
Jordan Mintzer,
HollywoodReporter,
17 May 2026
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Ukraine launched one of its largest drone barrages of the war, killing at least three people near Moscow and another in Belgorod and wounding a dozen more, officials said.—
Samya Kullab,
Los Angeles Times,
17 May 2026
Verb
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The grand occasion was almost marred by an accident, the Tribune reported.—
Kori Rumore,
Chicago Tribune,
14 May 2026
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Though that 2017 championship is marred by one of the most egregious cheating scandals in baseball history.—
Ian Miller OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
11 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cripple.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cripple. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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