The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms INTRO ...

cringe v. 1 cower, wince, flinch, quail, recoil, blench, tremble,
quiver, quake or shake in one's boots or shoes, shrink: That
dirty little coward cringed even when they called his name. 2
defer, kowtow, grovel, crawl, fawn, boot-lick, US apple-polish;
Slang kiss someone's arse or US and Canadian ass, Taboo slang
brown-nose: The man cringed before the magistrate, his eyes
downcast, tugging his forelock.
cripple n. 1 amputee, paralytic: He has been a cripple since the
accident.
--v. 2 disable, lame, incapacitate, handicap, maim; impair,
damage, weaken, debilitate, emasculate, enervate: She was
crippled when a child. The dictator's power was crippled by the
revolt.
crippled adj. 1 disabled, lame, handicapped, incapacitated; weakened,
weak, debilitated: He takes care of his crippled mother. The
crippled party platform succumbed to attack from the far left. 2
damaged, immobilized, inoperative: The crew stayed with the
crippled vessel.
crisis n. 1 turning-point, critical time or moment: She has passed
the crisis and will be better tomorrow. 2 disaster, emergency,
calamity, catastrophe, danger: The storm has created a crisis
and the residents are being evacuated.
crisp adj. 1 brittle, crunchy, friable, breakable, crumbly,
frangible: Keep the biscuits crisp in this special jar. 2
curly, crispy, crinkly, frizzy, frizzled: His hair is brown and
crisp, just like his father's. 3 US chip: I'll bet you can't
eat just one potato crisp.
critical adj. 1 carping, fault-finding, censorious, disparaging,
depreciatory or depreciative, depreciating, deprecatory or
deprecative, deprecating, judgemental: The article was highly
critical of the council. 2 crucial, important, essential,
basic, key, decisive, pivotal, vital, momentous: The meeting at
the bank will be critical for us. 3 grave, serious, dangerous,
uncertain, perilous, severe, touch-and-go, ticklish, sensitive,
touchy, Colloq parlous: His illness has reached the critical
stage.