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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cripple
The silent move threatened to cripple the country’s all-important electronics industry.
—
Andy Browne, semafor.com, 16 Oct. 2025
Freedom of inquiry for faculty and students, and indeed the vibrancy of campus life, would be crippled.
—Nicholas Dirks, Time, 16 Oct. 2025
Such a move would cripple global technology markets overnight.
—Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 13 Oct. 2025
Its lackluster response allowed Israel to cripple the Axis of Resistance, batter Hezbollah in September and October 2024, position itself to aid in the fall of the Assad regime in December, then directly strike Iran in June, killing dozens of top leaders.
—Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 6 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cripple
Andy Browne, semafor.com, 16 Oct. 2025
Freedom of inquiry for faculty and students, and indeed the vibrancy of campus life, would be crippled.
—Nicholas Dirks, Time, 16 Oct. 2025
Such a move would cripple global technology markets overnight.
—Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 13 Oct. 2025
Its lackluster response allowed Israel to cripple the Axis of Resistance, batter Hezbollah in September and October 2024, position itself to aid in the fall of the Assad regime in December, then directly strike Iran in June, killing dozens of top leaders.
—Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 6 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cripple
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cripple
Verb
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He is accused of slipping incapacitating drugs into victims’ food or drinks before assaulting them between 2021 and 2024.—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten,
FOXNews.com,
16 Oct. 2025
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In still other situations, lapses in common knowledge can incapacitate people who really, really need to work together.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
14 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The next day, however, a football-style tussle left him injured.—
Liza Esquibias,
PEOPLE,
31 Oct. 2025
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The 2023 edition opened a month later as Israel intensified its bombing campaign on Gaza, which has since killed more than 67,000 people, injured another 170,000 and razed the Palestinian territory to the ground, prompting accusations of genocide, which Israel has strongly rejected.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
30 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Floods, fires, and extreme storms can paralyze entire regions, forcing businesses to shut down while public employees continue to draw wages.—
Ugo Troiano,
Oc Register,
25 Oct. 2025
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics is slated to publish September inflation data on Friday morning, in spite of a government shutdown that has paralyzed federal reporting and has no end in sight.—
Steve Kopack,
NBC news,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Faison then manually disabled his phone and removed the SIM card so his location couldn’t be tracked before going to the park and shooting Fiengo, police said.—
Irene Wright,
Miami Herald,
28 Oct. 2025
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Beau pointed out that Bash disabled them, and any footage could be altered to appear accidental.—
Allison DeGrushe,
Entertainment Weekly,
28 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Just under two million Palestinians—virtually the entire population of Gaza—have been displaced since October 2023, many repeatedly, and Israeli forces have damaged or destroyed more than 90 percent of homes in the Strip.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
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This protection also works to protect plants that are marginally hardy in your area, such as hydrangeas blooming on old wood that may not bloom if their flower buds are damaged by cold.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
2 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Nigeria’s Federal Revenue Service, whose boss Zacc Adedeji made the case for the tax, argued that local oil refineries are operating at cost levels that exceed those of fuel importers, a risk that could undermine the refining sector.—
Alexander Onukwue,
semafor.com,
30 Oct. 2025
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The resumption of nuclear weapons testing by the United States will undermine national security, arms control advocates told .—
Joshua Rhett Miller,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The most jarring example is the June 20, 2021 massacre in Richmond, where SSL-502 members allegedly opened fire at a house party where people were celebrating the Guatemalan Summer Solstice, killing three and wounding four.—
Harry Harris,
Mercury News,
29 Oct. 2025
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At least two people were killed and four wounded in a strike on a residential building in the city's Sabra neighborhood, and an area close to Shifa hospital, the largest operational hospital in northern Gaza, was also hit, according to Gaza officials, witnesses and Hamas media.—
Maayan Lubell,
USA Today,
28 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Even now, plans are underway to determine how best to retire and deorbit the aging laboratory – which has been marred by air leaks and other issues – likely around 2030.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA Today,
2 Nov. 2025
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International rights groups have criticized the electoral process which has been marred by low voter turnout, a night curfew and internet shutdown as protesters have taken to the streets of major cities for the third day since election day.—
Martin K.N Siele,
semafor.com,
31 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cripple.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cripple. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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