crisis Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an unstable situation of extreme danger or difficulty
    • they went bankrupt during the economic crisis
  2. noun a crucial stage or turning point in the course of something
    • after the crisis the patient either dies or gets better

WordNet

Cri"sis noun
Etymology
L. crisis, Gr. , fr. to separate. See Certain.
Wordforms
plural Crises
Definitions
  1. 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.
    This hour's the very crisis of your fate. Dryden.
    The very times of crisis for the fate of the country. Brougham.
  2. (Med.) 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.
    Till some safe crisis authorize their skill. Dryden.

Webster 1913