as in injured
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1
as in incapacitated
to cause severe or permanent injury to
the car crash may have crippled two people for life
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2
as in damaged
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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in paralyzed
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 crippled
Leslie Josephs, CNBC, 17 Oct. 2025
The unusually large protest crippled traffic in the heart of the Belgian capital, blocking major roads.
—Ashley J. Dimella, FOXNews.com, 15 Oct. 2025
Had his dad not sensed something and dialed 911, Andrew, a star baseball player turned gambling addict in college, would have quietly checked out at age 33, leaving his twin infant sons, his guilt-crippled parents, and many thousands of dollars in gambling debts behind.
—Paul Solotaroff, Rolling Stone, 12 Oct. 2025
Moments later, the crippled transport slammed into the black sands of Sólheimasandur.
—Marisa Garcia, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025
Those many months of combat have left Hamas severely weakened, with its leadership eviscerated and its military capabilities crippled.
—Foreign Affairs, 4 Sep. 2025
Removing the rubble had already shut down PCH for months and crippled local businesses, but a rebuild would likely shrink PCH again as heavy equipment navigates the claustrophobic stretch of land.
—Jason Kravarik, CNN Money, 10 Aug. 2025
Amanda Castro, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Oct. 2025
Sanctions have crippled the government’s primary source of revenue, oil exports, limiting the state’s ability to provide for millions of impoverished Iranians through social safety nets.
—Leila Gharagozlou, CNN Money, 19 Oct. 2025
Named for former Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien, who had crippled the franchise by trading five straight first-round picks, it was supposed to protect teams from themselves.
—The Athletic Nba Staff, New York Times, 17 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
Another hunter had crippled him.
—Robert Merchant, Outdoor Life, 1 Oct. 2025
Such a finding could’ve crippled the operations of Google, Meta and X, among various others.
—Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 29 Sep. 2025
Russian hackers crippled the Colonial Gas Pipeline for five days in 2021, causing shortages at 16,200 gas stations along the East Coast and widespread consumer anxiety before the company paid a $5 million ransom to regain access to its computers.
—N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA Today, 23 Sep. 2025
Lysenko’s policies crippled agricultural science in the Soviet Union for decades.
—D. Scott Schmid, Denver Post, 22 Sep. 2025
Adjective
The Max program was crippled following two crashes of the planes in 2018 and 2019, which killed all 346 people on the two flights.
—Leslie Josephs, CNBC, 17 Oct. 2025
The unusually large protest crippled traffic in the heart of the Belgian capital, blocking major roads.
—Ashley J. Dimella, FOXNews.com, 15 Oct. 2025
Had his dad not sensed something and dialed 911, Andrew, a star baseball player turned gambling addict in college, would have quietly checked out at age 33, leaving his twin infant sons, his guilt-crippled parents, and many thousands of dollars in gambling debts behind.
—Paul Solotaroff, Rolling Stone, 12 Oct. 2025
Moments later, the crippled transport slammed into the black sands of Sólheimasandur.
—Marisa Garcia, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025
Those many months of combat have left Hamas severely weakened, with its leadership eviscerated and its military capabilities crippled.
—Foreign Affairs, 4 Sep. 2025
Removing the rubble had already shut down PCH for months and crippled local businesses, but a rebuild would likely shrink PCH again as heavy equipment navigates the claustrophobic stretch of land.
—Jason Kravarik, CNN Money, 10 Aug. 2025
Verb
Despite possessing some of the world’s largest oil reserves, mismanagement and falling global prices have crippled the economy.
—Amanda Castro, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Oct. 2025
Sanctions have crippled the government’s primary source of revenue, oil exports, limiting the state’s ability to provide for millions of impoverished Iranians through social safety nets.
—Leila Gharagozlou, CNN Money, 19 Oct. 2025
Named for former Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien, who had crippled the franchise by trading five straight first-round picks, it was supposed to protect teams from themselves.
—The Athletic Nba Staff, New York Times, 17 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
Another hunter had crippled him.
—Robert Merchant, Outdoor Life, 1 Oct. 2025
Such a finding could’ve crippled the operations of Google, Meta and X, among various others.
—Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 29 Sep. 2025
Russian hackers crippled the Colonial Gas Pipeline for five days in 2021, causing shortages at 16,200 gas stations along the East Coast and widespread consumer anxiety before the company paid a $5 million ransom to regain access to its computers.
—N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA Today, 23 Sep. 2025
Lysenko’s policies crippled agricultural science in the Soviet Union for decades.
—D. Scott Schmid, Denver Post, 22 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for crippled
Adjective
-
The death toll rose to 13 after an injured victim died in the hospital, officials said.—
Jeanine Santucci,
USA Today,
7 Nov. 2025
-
Authorities identified the 6-year-old victim as Rosangela Segundo-Osorio, the Tampa Bay Times and NBC affiliate WFLA reported, and her injured mother and brother as Catalina Osorio-Jimenez and Peter Segundo-Osorio, respectively.—
David Chiu,
PEOPLE,
7 Nov. 2025
Verb
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One caller said a delta-8 gummy incapacitated their adult son for several hours.—
Gina Lee Castro,
jsonline.com,
3 Oct. 2025
-
Another note that came up in the responses to this question is that everyone, of any age, should make sure that there are plans in place for a friend or relative to take care of the dog if the owner is incapacitated or dies.—
R. Eric Thomas,
Mercury News,
18 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
The sauna business will launch at Hart Park months after historic August flooding damaged and closed much of the 52-acre park, which is located on a floodplain.—
Bridget Fogarty,
jsonline.com,
4 Nov. 2025
-
Stop Fertilizing Fertilizing prompts new growth, and fall isn’t the time for crepe myrtle trees or shrubs to focus on developing new branches and leaves that can be damaged by winter freezes.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
4 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
At least a million monkeys died in the race to develop vaccines for polio, which had previously paralyzed thousands of children each year.—
Ava Kofman,
New Yorker,
3 Nov. 2025
-
This induces what’s known as a state of tonic immobility, where the shark loses awareness of its surroundings, essentially becoming paralyzed.—
Outside,
Outside,
3 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
And then there’s the wreckage of a broken heart and being left to mend it in an era where technology has plunged dating into overdrive.—
Charisma Madarang,
Rolling Stone,
6 Nov. 2025
-
Her dad, Mark, 54, commented with praying, broken heart and crying emojis.—
Madison E. Goldberg,
PEOPLE,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov told The Guardian that drone teams killed or wounded 18,000 Russian soldiers in September alone.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Nov. 2025
-
Kidd died at the scene, while another man who police hadn't named Monday was wounded and taken to an area hospital for treatment.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
3 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
This dynamic marred the 2012-13 Hurricane Sandy package and has recurred in other disaster bills, not because relief is illegitimate but because speed plus political cover invites provisions that would die in regular order.—
Veronique De Rugy,
Oc Register,
7 Nov. 2025
-
Sook’s comments followed Nexstar’s report of quarterly results, which were marred by the absence of political advertising compared with the same quarter in 2024.—
Dade Hayes,
Deadline,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Jackson and his wife Exerlena had helped care for Black coworker and Natchez NAACP president George Metcalfe, after he was disabled in 1965 by a bomb rigged to his car’s ignition.—
Equal Justice Initiative,
USA Today,
6 Nov. 2025
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Some of these technologies are essential for ensuring the proper functioning of the service or website and cannot be disabled, while others are optional but serve to enhance the user experience in various ways.—
Walden Green,
Pitchfork,
6 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Crippled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/crippled. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.
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