crippling

/ ˈkrɪplɪŋ /

adjective

1. damaging or injurious

Other Word Forms

• cripplingly adverb

Example Sentences

For the Navy, which operates only a small number of cargo ships and relies on commercial carriers and mariners for most of its needs, the shortfall could be crippling.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

They also talked of a "crippling bureaucracy" which required some organisations to employ consultants with form-filling, and according to another independent report, contributed to mental health issues for almost all of the applicants.

Read more on BBC

Not so much for food but everything else — housing costs exploded, employer coverage for healthcare shrank, college costs became crippling and transportation costs rose.

Read more on MarketWatch

Serbia's president on Sunday said he wanted to avoid the "confiscation" of Russian shares in Serbian oil company NIS "at all costs", as his country seeks an exit from crippling US sanctions.

Read more on Barron's

The crippling anxiety that comes with a US government shutdown, however, is not something she is used to.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• adverse 
• bad 
• catastrophic 
• damaging 
• destructive 
• detrimental 
• disadvantageous 
• disastrous 
• inimical 
• noxious 
• painful 
• pernicious 
• risky 
• ruinous 
• sinful 
• toxic 
• unhealthy 
• unsafe