MEANING
1. To injure or impair someone so severely that bodily function or movement is substantially limited.
2. To damage or hinder a system so seriously that it cannot function normally.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- crippled by an injury
- cripple a limb
On the page
The fall crippled his left leg before he reached the ledge.
An untreated injury had crippled the only limb he could use to climb.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- cripple
- Past tense
- crippled
- Past participle
- crippled
- Present participle
- crippling
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- cripple
- Present continuous
- am/is/are crippling
- Present perfect
- have/has crippled
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been crippling
- Past
- crippled
- Past continuous
- was/were crippling
- Past perfect
- had crippled
- Past perfect continuous
- had been crippling
- Future
- will cripple
- Future continuous
- will be crippling
- Future perfect
- will have crippled
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been crippling
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: horror. Forms: cripple; cripples; crippled; crippled; crippling Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: cripples.
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