cripple

CEFRB2

/ˈkɹɪp(ə)l/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To badly damage or weaken someone or something.

  2. 02

    noun

    An offensive old word for a person with a disability.

Examples

  • It's because of you that I'm a cripple!

  • My ambitions were crippled by a lack of money.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meaning

  1. A person who has severely impaired physical abilities because of deformation, injury, or amputation of parts of the body.

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A shortened wooden stud or brace used to construct the portion of a wall above a door or above and below a window.

  2. A person who is severely impaired or deficient in some non-physical way.

More examples

In context

  • Tom is a cripple.

  • He returned from war a cripple.

  • The car bomb crippled five passers-by.

Synonyms

Quick test

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Question 1 · Quick check

The massive snowstorm could blank the city's entire transportation network for days.

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Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English cripel, crepel, crüpel, from Old English crypel (“crippled; a cripple”), from Proto-Germanic *krupilaz (“tending to crawl; a cripple”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to bend, crouch, crawl”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to bend, twist”), equivalent to creep + -le. Cognate with Dutch kreupel, Low German Kröpel, German Krüppel, Old Norse kryppill.