crisis
noun
Simple meaning
A crucial or decisive point or situation.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
krysuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɹaɪsəs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A crucial or decisive point or situation; a turning point.
A crucial stage or turning point in the course of something
“After the crisis the patient either dies or gets better.”
An unstable situation of extreme danger or difficulty
“They went bankrupt during the economic crisis.”
An unstable situation, in political, social, economic or military affairs, especially one involving an impending abrupt change.
psychology
A traumatic or stressful change in a person's life.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A crucial or decisive point or situation; a turning point.
Used this way, crisis is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Crucialnoun
“After the crisis the patient either dies or gets better.”
Unstablenoun
“They went bankrupt during the economic crisis.”
More ways to use crisis
- “After the crisis the patient either dies or gets better.”noun
- “They went bankrupt during the economic crisis.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Psychotherapy that focuses on acute critical situations (depressive episodes or attempted suicides or drug overdoses) with the aim of restoring the person to the level of functioning before…
A long-term economic state characterized by unemployment and low prices and low levels of trade and investment.
Distress and disorientation (especially in adolescence) resulting from conflicting pressures and uncertainty about one's self and one's role in society.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Keep learning “crisis” by choosing the kind of practice you need next.
- Practice sentence writingWrite sentences with vocabulary and get instant feedback.
- Practice in contextAnswer short vocabulary questions drawn from real situations.
- Review vocabularyTest your recall and strengthen words over time.
- Practice typingType vocabulary from meanings, examples and other prompts.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.