cripple
v.v. to damage something so badly that it cannot work or move properly. You use this to describe a person, an economy, or a machine that is completely stuck.
v. to cause a severe and disabling loss of function or movement. While historically used for physical disability, it is now more frequently applied to abstract systems like economies or networks; the physical sense is often considered offensive.
The heavy snow will cripple the city's transport system.
A sudden cyberattack managed to cripple the bank's servers for several hours yesterday.
The sudden withdrawal of foreign investment threatened to cripple the nation's emerging tech sector before it could reach maturity.
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.
The verb is transitive and requires a direct object.
He is a cripple.He has a physical disability.Using this word as a noun to describe a person is considered highly offensive and derogatory in modern English.