From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Crisis \Cri"sis\ (kr?"s?s), noun; pl. {Crises} (-s?z). [L. crisis, Gr. ????, fr. ???? to separate. See {Certain}.]
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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: an unstable situation of extreme danger or difficulty; "they went bankrupt during the economic crisis"
2: a crucial stage or turning point in the course of something; "after the crisis the patient either dies or gets better" [also: {crises} (pl)]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
118 Moby Thesaurus words for "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 hour
Define.com is a registered nonprofit corporation dedicated solely to the global public interest and the advancement of humanity. It belongs to all of us who have a desire to promote electronic democracy, science, creativity, imagination, reason, critical thinking, peace, race and gender equality, civil rights, equal access to education, personal liberty, free speech, animal rights, compassionate and nonviolent parenting, social and economic justice, global monetary reform, Secular Humanism, cognitive liberty and a permanent cessation of The War on Drugs.
Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
0