Word Study
crisis
CIDE DICTIONARY
crisis, n. [L. crisis, Gr. , fr. to separate. See Certain.].
- The point of time when it is to be decided whether any affair or course of action must go on, or be modified or terminate; the decisive moment; the turning point. [1913 Webster]"This hour's the very crisis of your fate." [1913 Webster]"The very times of crisis for the fate of the country." [1913 Webster]
- That change in a disease which indicates whether the result is to be recovery or death; sometimes, also, a striking change of symptoms attended by an outward manifestation, as by an eruption or sweat. [1913 Webster]"Till some safe crisis authorize their skill." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
crisis, n. (pl. crises)
1 a a decisive moment. b a time of danger or great difficulty.
2 the turning-point, esp. of a disease.
1 a a decisive moment. b a time of danger or great difficulty.
2 the turning-point, esp. of a disease.
Etymology
L f. Gk krisis decision f. krino decide
THESAURUS
crisis
bench mark, boom, bottoming out, breakers ahead, business cycle, business fluctuations, bust, calamity, cardhouse, cardinal point, catastrophe, cause for alarm, chief thing, climacteric, climax, clutch, contingency, convergence of events, cooling off, core, cornerstone, critical juncture, critical moment, critical point, crossroads, crucial period, crunch, crux, danger, dangerous ground, depression, disaster, dollar crisis, dollar gap, downturn, economic cycle, economic expansion, economic growth, emergency, endangerment, essence, essential, essential matter, exigency, expanding economy, expansion, extremity, financial crisis, fundamental, gaping chasm, gathering clouds, gist, gravamen, great point, growth, hazard, heart, high growth rate, high point, high pressure, hinge, house of cards, imperativeness, imperilment, important thing, issue, jeopardy, kernel, keystone, landmark, low, main point, main thing, market expansion, material point, meat, menace, milestone, nub, pass, peak, peaking, peril, pinch, pith, pivot, plight, predicament, press, pressure, prosperity, push, quicksand, real issue, recession, recovery, risk, rocks ahead, rub, salient point, sine qua non, slowdown, slump, storm clouds, strait, stress, substance, substantive point, tension, the bottom line, the point, thin ice, threat, turn, turning point, upturn, urgency, zero hourROGET THESAURUS
crisis
Circumstance
N circumstance, situation, phase, position, posture, attitude, place, point, terms, regime, footing, standing, status, occasion, juncture, conjunctive, contingency, predicament, emergence, emergency, exigency, crisis, pinch, pass, push, occurrence, turning point, bearings, how the land lies, surroundings, context, environment, location, contingency, dependence (uncertainty), causation, attribution, circumstantial, given, conditional, provisional, critical, modal, contingent, incidental, adventitious, limitative, in the circumstances, under the circumstances, the circumstances, conditions, thus, in such wise, accordingly, that being the case, such being the case, in view of the circumstances, that being so, sith, since, seeing that, as matters stand, as things go, as times go, conditionally, provided, if, in case, if so, if so be, if it be so, depending on circumstances, in certain circumstances, under certain conditions, if it so happen, if it so turn out, in the event of, in such a contingency, in such a case, in such an event, provisionally, unless, without, according to circumstances, according to the occasion, as it may happen, as it may turn out, as it may be, as the case may be, as the wind blows, pro re nata, yet are my sins not those of circumstance.Difficulty
N difficulty, hardness, impracticability, tough work, hard work, uphill work, hard task, Herculean task, Augean task, task of Sisyphus, Sisyphean labor, tough job, teaser, rasper, dead lift, dilemma, embarrassment, deadlock, perplexity, intricacy, entanglement, complexity, cross fire, awkwardness, delicacy, ticklish card to play, knot, Gordian knot, dignus vindice nodus, net, meshes, maze, coil, crooked path, involvement, nice point, delicate point, subtle point, knotty point, vexed question, vexata quaestio, poser, puzzle, paradox, hard nut to crack, nut to crack, bone to pick, crux, pons asinorum, where the shoe pinches, nonplus, quandary, strait, pass, pinch, pretty pass, stress, brunt, critical situation, crisis, trial, rub, emergency, exigency, scramble, scrape, hobble, slough, quagmire, hot water, hornet's nest, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, pretty kettle of fish, pickle, stew, imbroglio, mess, ado, false position, set fast, stand, standstill, deadlock, dead set, fix, horns of a dilemma, cul de sac, hitch, stumbling block, crab, curmudgeon, difficult, not easy, hard, tough, troublesome, toilsome, irksome, operose, laborious, onerous, arduous, Herculean, formidable, sooner said than done, more easily said than done, easier said than done, difficult to deal with, hard to deal with, ill-conditioned, crabbed, crabby, not to be handled with kid gloves, not made with rose water, awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable, intractable, stubborn, perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged, knotted, knotty, invious, pathless, trackless, labyrinthine, intricate, complicated, impracticable, not feasible, desperate, embarrassing, perplexing, delicate, ticklish, critical, beset with difficulties, full of difficulties, surrounded by difficulties, entangled by difficulties, encompassed with difficulties, under a difficulty, in a box, in difficulty, in hot water, in the suds, in a cleft stick, in a fix, in the wrong box, in a scrape, in deep water, in a fine pickle, in extremis, between two stools, between Scylla and Charybdis, surrounded by shoals, surrounded by breakers, surrounded by quicksands, at cross purposes, not out of the wood, reduced to straits, hard pressed, sorely pressed, run hard, pinched, put to it, straitened, hard up, hard put to it, hard set, put to one's shifts, puzzled, at a loss, at the end of one's tether, at the end of one's rope, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, at a standstill, graveled, nonplused, nonplussed, stranded, aground, stuck fast, set fast, up a tree, at bay, aux abois, driven into a corner, driven from pillar to post, driven to extremity, driven to one's wit's end, driven to the wall, au bout de son Latin, out of one's depth, thrown out, accomplished with difficulty, hard-fought, hard-earned, with difficulty, with much ado, barely, hardly, uphill, against the stream, against the grain, d rebours, invita Minerva, in the teeth of, at a pinch, upon a pinch, at long odds, against long odds, ay there's the rub, hic labor hoc opus, things are come to a pretty pass, ab inconvenienti, ad astra per aspera, acun chemin de fleurs ne conduit a la gloire.The Present Time
N the present, the present time, the present day, the present moment, the present juncture, the present occasion, the times, the existing time, the time being, today, these days, nowadays, our times, modern times, the twentieth century, nonce, crisis, epoch, day, hour, age, time of life, present, actual, instant, current, existing, extant, that is, present-day, up-to-date, up-to-the-moment, at this time, at this moment, at the present time, now, at present, at hand, at this time of day, today, nowadays, already, even now, but now, just now, on the present occasion, for the time being, for the nonce, pro hac vice, on the nail, on the spot, on the spur of the moment, until now, to this day, to the present day, the present hour alone is man's.Occasion
N timeliness, occasion, opportunity, opening, room, event (eventuality), suitable season, proper season, suitable time, proper time, high time, opportuneness, tempestivity, crisis, turn, juncture, conjuncture, crisis, turning point, given time, nick of time, golden opportunity, well timed opportunity, fine opportunity, favorable opportunity, opening, clear stage, fair field, mollia tempora, fata Morgana, spare time, opportune, timely, well-timed, timeful, seasonable, providential, lucky, fortunate, happy, favorable, propitious, auspicious, critical, suitable, obiter dicta, opportunely, in proper course, in due course, in proper season, in due season, in proper time, in due time, for the nonce, in the nick of time, in the fullness of time, all in good time, just in time, at the eleventh hour, now or never, by the way, by the by, en passant, a propos, pro re nata, pro hac vice, par parenthese, parenthetically, by way of parenthesis, incidentally, while speaking of, while on the subject, extempore, on the spur of the moment, on the spur of the occasion, on the spot, carpe diem occasionem cognosce, one's hour is come, the time is up, that reminds me, now that you mention it, come to think of it, bien perdu bien connu, e sempre l'ora, ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius, nosce tempus, nunc aut nunquam, timeliness, occasion, opportunity, opening, room, event (eventuality), suitable season, proper season, suitable time, proper time, high time, opportuneness, tempestivity, crisis, turn, juncture, conjuncture, crisis, turning point, given time, nick of time, golden opportunity, well timed opportunity, fine opportunity, favorable opportunity, opening, clear stage, fair field, mollia tempora, fata Morgana, spare time, opportune, timely, well-timed, timeful, seasonable, providential, lucky, fortunate, happy, favorable, propitious, auspicious, critical, suitable, obiter dicta, opportunely, in proper course, in due course, in proper season, in due season, in proper time, in due time, for the nonce, in the nick of time, in the fullness of time, all in good time, just in time, at the eleventh hour, now or never, by the way, by the by, en passant, a propos, pro re nata, pro hac vice, par parenthese, parenthetically, by way of parenthesis, incidentally, while speaking of, while on the subject, extempore, on the spur of the moment, on the spur of the occasion, on the spot, carpe diem occasionem cognosce, one's hour is come, the time is up, that reminds me, now that you mention it, come to think of it, bien perdu bien connu, e sempre l'ora, ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius, nosce tempus, nunc aut nunquam.Eventuality
N eventuality, event, occurrence, incident, affair, matter, thing, episode, happening, proceeding, contingency, juncture, experience, fact, matter of fact, naked fact, bare facts, just the facts, phenomenon, advent, business, concern, transaction, dealing, proceeding, circumstance, particular, casualty, accident, adventure, passage, crisis, pass, emergency, contingency, consequence, opportunity (occasion), the world, life, things, doings, affairs in general, things in general, affairs in general, the times, state of affairs, order of the day, course of things, tide of things, stream of things, current of things, run of things, march of things, course of events, ups and downs of life, vicissitudes of life, chapter of accidents, situation, happening, going on, doing, current, in the wind, in the air, afloat, on foot, afoot, on the tapis, at issue, in question, incidental, eventful, stirring, bustling, full of incident, memorable, momentous, signal, eventually, in the event of, in case, just in case, in the course of things, as things, times go, as the world goes, wags, as the tree falls, cat jumps, as it may turn out, happen, that's the way the ball bounces, that's the way the cookie crumbles, you never know what may turn up, you never know what the future will bring, the plot thickens, breasts the blows of circumstance, so runs round of life from hour to hour, sprinkled along the waste of years.For further exploring for "crisis" in Webster Dictionary Online