crippled
Americanadjective
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Offensive.
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relating to a person who is partially or totally unable to use one or more limbs.
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relating to a person who is disabled or impaired in any way.
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not operating or performing at the customary level; impaired; weakened.
Significant progress has been made in repairing the crippled power plant.
A telecommunications firm has signed a deal to get their crippled company back in business.
Sensitive Note
Why is crippled offensive? See cripple ( def. ).
Other Word Forms
- uncrippled adjective
Etymology
Origin of crippled
First recorded in 1300–50; cripple ( def. ) (verb) + -ed 2 ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There are also calls to overhaul rules related to special treatment of developing countries and achieving a level playing field for trade, as well as a push to restore the organisation's crippled dispute settlement system.
From Barron's
We prayed beyond the concrete walls for the healing of Germany, of Europe, of the world—as Mama had once done from the prison of a crippled body.
From Literature
‘You were there when the bear was made. You were with the Red Deer Clan. You helped the crippled Soul-Eater trap the demon.’
From Literature
Why should she feel crippled with so much fear that she had to force her feet to keep on walking, one after the other, one after the other?
From Literature
Stocks slumped as the conflict in the Middle East crippled travel through some of the world’s most crowded transit arteries.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
