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
Etymology
Origin of crippled
First recorded in 1300–50; cripple ( def. ) (verb) + -ed 2 ( def. )
Explanation
When something is crippled, it's not working properly. Your bike might be crippled by the broken front brake that won't let the wheel turn freely. You can used the adjective crippled to talk about a broken machine or a process that's not working the way it should. It was once commonly used to describe a physically disabled person, but this has become an offensive term and should be avoided. The word crippled comes from the Old English crypel, which is related to cryppan, "to crook or to bend."
Vocabulary lists containing crippled
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.
Since then, shipping in the area has been crippled.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026
This isn’t only humanitarian restraint; it’s the construction of a “golden bridge” across which a crippled leadership can eventually retreat while saying all hasn’t been lost.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026
The failed campaigns left his father in financial and emotional turmoil that crippled his marriage when Newsom was a small boy.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 15, 2026
The latest wave crippled Kyiv's energy system, leaving hundreds of thousands without heating as temperatures plunged to -20C.
From Barron's • Feb. 13, 2026
“Daisy,” I said, “there’s something that I want to tell you. The wish I made in the fairy ring has come true, too. I wished that you could get your crippled leg fixed up.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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.
