What does crisis mean?
A crisis is a time of acute difficulty, danger, or instability — a moment when events reach a critical state and decisive action or change is required. The word applies across many domains: a financial crisis can shake markets, a political crisis can topple governments, a personal crisis may upend someone's sense of identity, and a humanitarian crisis demands urgent relief. An older, more technical sense describes the turning point in the course of an illness, when a patient's condition shifts decisively toward recovery or decline. Crisis carries strong connotations of urgency and gravity, which is why it is often criticized as overused in headlines and public discourse, where minor setbacks are routinely inflated into crises. Derived from the Greek krisis, meaning "decision" or "judgment," the word reminds us that a true crisis is not merely hardship but a hinge point at which outcomes are determined. Its standard plural is crises.
nounA time of intense difficulty, danger, or uncertainty; also, the decisive turning point in the course of an illness or a situation, when a critical change for better or worse occurs.
- A time of acute difficulty, danger, or instability in personal life, politics, economics, or health.
- The decisive or turning point in the progress of an illness or affair, when change for better or worse becomes imminent.
"The government faced an economic crisis as inflation soared and markets plunged."
"The hospital was overwhelmed during the flu crisis of last winter."
"The fever broke at the crisis of her illness, and she began to recover."
The plural follows the Greek-style pattern seen in analysis → analyses and thesis → theses; it is pronounced /ˈkraɪsiːz/.
"The agency has weathered several financial crises over the past decade."
"Crisis" comes from the Greek word for "decision" — so every crisis is, literally, a moment of judgment.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of crisis
Crisis derives from the Greek krisis, meaning "decision" or "judgment," from the verb krinein, "to decide or distinguish." It entered English in the early 15th century via Latin, initially used in medical contexts to denote the decisive turning point of a disease. Over time its use broadened to describe any critical juncture or moment of severe difficulty. It shares its Greek root with words such as critic, criterion, and hypocrisy, all involving judgment or discernment.
How crisis is actually used
Formal to neutral in register. In medicine, the older sense of a decisive turning point in illness survives mainly in clinical or literary contexts; today the dominant sense is an emergency or period of severe difficulty. The plural "crises" is pronounced /ˈkraɪsiːz/.
Easily confused with crisis
A critique is a detailed evaluation or review of something, whereas a crisis is a time of acute difficulty or a decisive turning point.