crutch
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Something or someone that supports, often used negatively to indicate that it is not needed and causes an unhealthful dependency.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kruhchIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɹʌtʃ
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
Something or someone that supports, often used negatively to indicate that it is not needed and causes an unhealthful dependency; a prop
A device to assist in motion as a cane, especially one that provides support under the arm to reduce weight on a leg.
A crotch; the area of body where the legs fork from the trunk.
A form of pommel for a woman's saddle, consisting of a forked rest to hold the leg of the rider.
verb
transitive
To shear the hindquarters of a sheep; to dag.
intransitive
To move on crutches.
transitive
To support on crutches; to prop up.
transitivein soap-making
To stir with a crutch.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Something or someone that supports, often used negatively to indicate that it is not needed and causes an unhealthful dependency; a prop
Used this way, crutch is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use crutch
- “He uses drugs as a psychological crutch.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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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.