
crack | crack: n. 1 break, fracture, chink, crevice, rift, gap, flaw, split, fissure, slit, cleft, split, check, rupture, breach: The crack in the dam was caused by an earthquake. 2 snap, report, bang, clap, shot: I ducked when I heard the crack of the rifle. 3 moment, instant, time, second: She gets up at the crack of dawn. --v. 4 snap: He cracks the whip and the horses start up. 5 break, fracture, rupture; shiver, shatter, smash: He fell backwards on the pavement and cracked his skull. 6 fissure, craze, crackle, US alligator: The heat of the sun caused the paint to crack.
craft | craft: n. 1 skill, ability, artisanship, handiwork, ingenuity, skilfulness, art, talent, dexterity, cleverness, mastery, expertness, expertise, flair, genius , Colloq know-how: Considerable craft is required to make that kind of jewellery. 2 deceit, guile, cunning, fraud, trickery, wiliness, foxiness, artfulness, craftiness, duplicity: He exhibits that crooked wisdom called craft. 3 trade, occupation, calling, vocation, m�tier; profession: He was a member of one of the medieval craft guilds. 4 vessel, ship, boat; hovercraft; aircraft, aeroplane, plane; spaceship, spacecraft, rocket: One day there will be at least as many craft in space as there now are in the air. --v. 5 make, fashion, fabricate: She crafted the figures out of solid wood.
crafty | crafty: adj. artful, cunning, clever, shrewd, foxy, canny, wily, sly, scheming, calculating, designing, plotting, tricky, sneaky, deceitful, shifty, dodgy, guileful, insidious, double-dealing, two-faced, duplicitous, treacherous: That crafty beggar has made off with my life''s savings.
crag | crag: n. cliff, bluff, tor, peak, rock, escarpment, scarp, precipice, US palisade: Soaring above us was a huge crag that we still had to climb.
cram | cram: v. 1 pack, stuff, overstuff, overcrowd, jam, fill: The car was crammed to the top with suitcases. 2 study, burn the midnight oil, Literary lucubrate, Colloq grind, Brit swot: Bob can''t go out because he''s cramming for an exam.
cramped | cramped: adj. tight, crowded, incommodious, uncomfortable, close: The tiny cabin was too cramped to hold all of us at once.
crank | crank: n. 1 eccentric, character, oddity, Colloq nut; Slang Brit nutter, nutcase: Pay no attention to Jason, he''s just a crank. 2 monomaniac, zealot, fanatic: The restaurant is patronized mainly by health-food cranks.
cranky | cranky: adj. 1 eccentric, odd, weird, strange, queer, peculiar, quirky, capricious, whimsical: He''s a cranky old bird who hardly goes out at all. 2 testy, grouchy, crabby, short-tempered, surly, irascible, waspish, churlish, gruff, curmudgeonly, cantankerous, choleric, snappish, petulant, peevish, contentious, querulous, irritable, splenetic, Colloq crotchety: He''s always cranky before breakfast.
cranny | cranny: n. chink, crevice, crack, fissure, check, fracture, break, furrow, split, cleft: Flowers grew from the crannies in the ancient wall.
crash | crash: v. 1 fall, topple: The vase crashed onto the stone floor. 2 force, drive, run, smash: He crashed the car into a wall. 3 bang, boom, explode: The thunder crashed all around us. --n. 4 boom, bang, smash, explosion, blast: We heard a great crash as the building collapsed. 5 disaster, collapse, failure: The stock-market crash has had a devastating effect.
crawl | crawl: v. 1 creep, worm, wriggle, wiggle, squirm; edge: A spider is crawling on your collar. 2 inch, creep, drag: For a solid hour the cars just crawled along at a snail''s pace. 3 cower, cringe, grovel, toady, fawn: Don''t worry, he''ll soon come crawling, begging you to take him back. 4 teem, abound, swarm, be overrun or swamped: The scene of the crime crawled with police.
craze | craze: n. fad, fashion, trend, enthusiasm, rage, mania, thing, obsession; last word, dernier cri: The craze for printed T-shirts goes on and on.
crazy | crazy: adj. 1 mad, insane, demented, deranged, unbalanced, unhinged, lunatic, non compos mentis, daft, certifiable, mental, touched (in the head), out of one''s mind or head, mad as a March hare or hatter, maddened, crazed, Colloq barmy or balmy, cuckoo, cracked, crackers, crack-brained, dotty, daffy, dippy, gaga, goofy, crackpot, loony, off one''s rocker, have a screw loose, screwy, batty, bats, bats in the belfry, Brit barmy (in the crumpet), potty, bonkers, round the bend or twist, off one''s chump, doolally, US off one''s trolley, out of one''s gourd, screwball, nuts, nutty (as a fruit cake); Slang bananas, US out to lunch, meshuga, flaky, flaked-out, (plumb) loco: His wife thinks he''s crazy to want to walk around the world. 2 silly, absurd, foolish, nonsensical, inane, ridiculous, preposterous, laughable, risible, ludicrous, asinine, stupid, moronic, imbecile or imbecilic, idiotic, feeble-minded, hare-brained, Colloq crackpot: Someone came up with a crazy idea of a square tennis ball to slow down the game. 3 impractical, impracticable, unworkable, unsound, pointless, imprudent, rash, reckless, ill-considered: Columbus'' plan to sail round the world was thought to be crazy at the time. 4 enthusiastic, eager, avid, zealous, keen, excited: I''m really crazy about windsurfing. 5 infatuated, keen on or about, wild, mad, Colloq dotty, US nuts, nutty; Slang US ape: Marjorie, I''m absolutely crazy about you.
create | create: v. 1 make, produce, form, bring into being, originate, conceive; sire, father: The question remains whether God created Man or vice versa. 2 engender, beget, spawn, generate, invent, imagine, think up, frame, forge, fashion, fabricate, manufacture, develop, design, contrive, devise, produce, dream up, initiate: Here is where they create many of the most successful television advertisements.
creation | creation: n. 1 beginning, origin, birth, start, inception, genesis, making, formation: The creation of the lake began with the damming of the stream. 2 the world, the universe, the cosmos: He was the most wicked man in the history of all creation.
creative | creative: adj. imaginative, inventive, originative, artistic, original, ingenious, resourceful: A truly creative artist seldom lacks for inspiration.
creator | creator: n. 1 originator, author, initiator, founder, father, inventor, architect, designer, framer, maker, prime mover: The creator of this painting must have been a genius. 2 God, Supreme Being, the Deity: Some day you will have to answer to your Creator for your sins.
creature | creature: n. 1 being, organism, entity, living thing: The hound had the saddest face I have ever seen on any creature. 2 creature comforts. (physical or bodily or material or mundane or superficial or non-spiritual) luxuries: He has the money to enjoy all the creature comforts.
credit | credit: n. 1 belief, faith, trust, credence: I don''t give much credit to what they say. 2 creditation, acknowledgement or acknowledgment, attribution, ascription: Credit for inventing the telegraph goes to Guglielmo Marconi. 3 trust, confidence, faithfulness, reliability, trustworthiness, honesty, probity, dependability; solvency: Her credit rating at the bank is excellent. 4 honour, commendation, praise, tribute, acclaim, esteem, recognition, merit: The team''s victory in the finals has brought credit to the school. --v. 5 believe, trust, hold accountable, put or place one''s faith or confidence in, have faith or confidence in, rely on, accept, depend on or upon: If you credit the Bible, the world was created in six days. 6 ascribe, acknowledge, attribute, assign; impute: The goal was credited to Barnes.
creed | creed: n. tenet, dogma, doctrine, credo, teaching, principles, belief, set of beliefs: She adheres to the creed of the Golden Rule.
creek | creek: n. 1 Brit inlet, bay, cove, harbour: Overnight we moored in a little creek, sheltered from the sea. 2 US and Canadian stream, streamlet, brook, rivulet, rill, runnel, run, burn: We used to fish in the creek behind the house.
creep | creep: v. 1 crawl, slither, inch, squirm, wriggle, wiggle: A tiny lizard was creeping up the wall. 2 crawl, drag: The hours creep by slowly when you have nothing to do. 3 steal, sneak; slink, skulk, tiptoe, Colloq pussyfoot: The thief must have crept in through the kitchen window. Someone is creeping about out there in the dark.
crescent | crescent: n. 1 demi-lune, semi-lune, lune, lunette: The moon''s crescent hung low in the western sky. --adj. 2 crescent-shaped, demi-lune, semi-lune, biconcave, concavo-concave: For chopping, the chef uses a crescent blade that just fits into a curved wooden bowl.
crest | crest: n. 1 top, summit, pinnacle, peak, head, ridge: The surfers rode in on the crest of a wave. 2 seal, device, figure, badge, emblem, insigne, symbol, design: The school crest shows an inkpot and a scroll. --v. 3 top, crown, surmount, cap: The ancient walls were crested with ivy. 4 culminate, reach, top, US top out: The flood-waters crested at nine feet.
crevasse | crevasse: n. gorge, chasm, abyss, ravine, fissure, crack, furrow: One of the climbers fell into a crevasse in the glacier.
crevice | crevice: n. crack, fissure, chink, cleft, cranny, groove, furrow, break, split, rift: Water ran down the crevices in the rocks.
crew | crew: n. group, company, band, troupe, party, gang, team, corps, body: We shall need a crew of twenty for tomorrow''s job.
crime | crime: n. offence, violation, misdeed, wrong; felony, misdemeanour; lawlessness: The number of crimes of violence is increasing.
criminal | criminal: adj. 1 illegal, unlawful, illicit, lawless, dishonest, Colloq crooked: Arson is a criminal act. We have to weed out the criminal element. 2 wicked, evil, bad, wrong, corrupt, vile, black, immoral, amoral, sinful, villainous, iniquitous, flagitious, depraved; disgraceful, reprehensible: The way they treat their children is absolutely criminal. --n. 3 felon, convict, lawbreaker, outlaw, culprit, offender, miscreant, malefactor, wrongdoer, villain, scoundrel, knave, blackguard; gangster, Mafioso, desperado, racketeer; hoodlum, thug, hooligan, tough, ruffian, terrorist, Colloq roughneck, bad guy, black hat, bad hat, baddie or baddy, crook; Slang hood, US mobster: He was arrested for consorting with known criminals.
cringe | cringe: v. 1 cower, wince, flinch, quail, recoil, blench, tremble, quiver, quake or shake in one''s boots or shoes, shrink: That dirty little coward cringed even when they called his name. 2 defer, kowtow, grovel, crawl, fawn, boot-lick, US apple-polish; Slang kiss someone''s arse or US and Canadian ass, Taboo slang brown-nose: The man cringed before the magistrate, his eyes downcast, tugging his forelock.
cripple | cripple: n. 1 amputee, paralytic: He has been a cripple since the accident. --v. 2 disable, lame, incapacitate, handicap, maim; impair, damage, weaken, debilitate, emasculate, enervate: She was crippled when a child. The dictator''s power was crippled by the revolt.
crippled | crippled: adj. 1 disabled, lame, handicapped, incapacitated; weakened, weak, debilitated: He takes care of his crippled mother. The crippled party platform succumbed to attack from the far left. 2 damaged, immobilized, inoperative: The crew stayed with the crippled vessel.
crisis | crisis: n. 1 turning-point, critical time or moment: She has passed the crisis and will be better tomorrow. 2 disaster, emergency, calamity, catastrophe, danger: The storm has created a crisis and the residents are being evacuated.
crisp | crisp: adj. 1 brittle, crunchy, friable, breakable, crumbly, frangible: Keep the biscuits crisp in this special jar. 2 curly, crispy, crinkly, frizzy, frizzled: His hair is brown and crisp, just like his father''s. 3 US chip: I''ll bet you can''t eat just one potato crisp.
critical | critical: adj. 1 carping, fault-finding, censorious, disparaging, depreciatory or depreciative, depreciating, deprecatory or deprecative, deprecating, judgemental: The article was highly critical of the council. 2 crucial, important, essential, basic, key, decisive, pivotal, vital, momentous: The meeting at the bank will be critical for us. 3 grave, serious, dangerous, uncertain, perilous, severe, touch-and-go, ticklish, sensitive, touchy, Colloq parlous: His illness has reached the critical stage.
criticism | criticism: n. 1 judgement, evaluation, appraisal, analysis, assessment, estimation, valuation: Their criticism was generally favourable. 2 censure, disapproval, condemnation, disparagement: I was very upset by her criticism of my behaviour. 3 critique, review, commentary: My sister writes the theatre criticisms for the local paper.
criticize | criticize: v. 1 judge, evaluate, value, assess, appraise, estimate; discuss, analyse: He criticizes books for the quarterly. 2 censure, find fault (with), carp (at), cavil (at), condemn, attack, denounce, disapprove (of), put down, impugn, blast, lambaste, Colloq pan, knock, Brit slate: His book was criticized because of its poor scholarship. Why must he constantly criticize, even when there''s nothing wrong?
crooked | crooked: adj. 1 criminal, dishonest, illegal, unlawful, illicit, wrong, perverse, Slang Brit bent: Selling a stolen painting is crooked. 2 bent, bowed, askew, awry, deformed, distorted, contorted, lopsided, twisted, misshapen, disfigured, warped, gnarled: Because of the constant west wind, the trees are all crooked.
cross | cross: n. 1 crucifix, rood: In ancient times, it was common to execute certain criminals by nailing them to a cross. 2 hybrid, cross-breed, mongrel; blend, combination: This fruit is a cross between a plum and a pear. --v. 3 cross off or out. strike out, erase, cancel, rub out, delete, wipe out: After that remark, I''m crossing you off my list. 4 meet, intersect, join: The roads cross further on. 5 cross over, go across, pass over, span, traverse: The bridge crosses the river here. --adj. 6 peevish, irritated, annoyed, piqued, irritable, testy, snappish, irascible, surly, choleric, splenetic, grouchy, huffish or huffy, pettish, cranky, grumpy, touchy, moody, fractious, vexed, curmudgeonly, petulant, waspish, querulous, cantankerous, crusty, short-tempered, on a short fuse, Colloq crotchety, Slang Brit shirty: He''s cross because he has a headache. 7 annoyed, irritated, angry, irate, furious: I was very cross that you took the car without permission.
crouch | crouch: v. bend (down), squat (down), hunker down, stoop (down): If you crouch down, no one will see you in the bushes.
crowd | crowd: n. 1 throng, multitude, horde, swarm, mass, press, flood, mob, flock, pack: A huge crowd descended on the village square. 2 company, set, circle, lot, bunch, group, coterie, clique, claque, faction: She doesn''t associate with our crowd any longer. --v. 3 throng, swarm, herd, pour, pile, press, cluster, gather, get together, flood, flock, assemble, congregate: People crowded into the stadium. 4 push, press, drive, shove, thrust, force, load, pack, cram, jam, corral: The police crowded the hooligans into vans. 5 compress, squeeze, pack, jam, cram, collect; stuff: We were so crowded in the cabin we could hardly breathe.
crown | crown: n. 1 coronet, diadem, wreath, fillet, circlet, tiara: The princess wore a golden crown set with jewels. 2 sovereignty, rule, dominion, authority, government, realm, rulership, jurisdiction: They discovered many lands and annexed them to the Crown. 3 monarch, ruler, sovereign, potentate; king, queen, emperor, empress, His or Her Majesty, His or Her Highness: The Crown has very little real power these days. --v. 4 enthrone, Colloq US coronate: He was crowned on the death of his father. 5 cap, top, surmount, culminate, climax, consummate, fulfil, reward: All her years of practising the violin were finally crowned with success.
crucial | crucial: adj. critical, decisive, pivotal, vital, momentous, major, important, essential: It is crucial that you press the right button.
crude | crude: adj. 1 unrefined, raw, natural, original, unprocessed: Those are the prices of crude oil, not the petrol used in cars. 2 rough, unpolished, rudimentary, immature, undeveloped, primitive, unrefined, unfinished: At this stage, she has only a crude idea of the design. 3 rough, coarse, rude, unrefined, uncouth, crass, gross, rustic, uncivil: Don''t you despise his crude manners? 4 blunt, brusque, unsophisticated, inconsiderate, tasteless, indelicate, offensive, improper, vulgar: How crude of him to ask her how long since her husband had ''croaked''!
cruel | cruel: adj. 1 merciless, pitiless, hard-hearted, harsh, stony-hearted, heartless, unsparing, callous, beastly, cold-blooded, ruthless, unkind, hard: It was cruel of you to refuse to help. 2 ferocious, inhuman, barbaric, barbarous, brutal, savage, bloodthirsty, vicious, sadistic, fiendish, diabolical, hellish, atrocious, Neronian or Neronic or Neroic: His captors subjected him to the cruellest tortures.
cruise | cruise: v. 1 sail, coast, travel, journey, voyage; yacht: We cruise in the Caribbean during the winter. --n. 2 sail, voyage, journey, boat or yachting trip: I took a three-day cruise around the Isle of Wight.
crumb | crumb: n. fragment, morsel, bite, scrap, particle, shred, snippet, sliver, bit, speck, scintilla, mote, molecule, atom: There isn''t a crumb of food in the house.
crumble | crumble: v. disintegrate, fragment, break apart, break up, shiver, come to pieces: Acid rain has caused the stone fa�ade to crumble. In the face of the attack, his resolve crumbled.
crumple | crumple: v. wrinkle, crush, crease, rumple, mangle, crinkle: Your jacket is all crumpled.
crunch | crunch: v. 1 chew, bite, crush, grind, munch: He crunched the nuts between his teeth. --n. 2 moment of truth, decision time, crisis, critical moment, showdown, crux, juncture: You can count on me when it comes to the crunch.
crusade | crusade: n. 1 campaign, expedition, holy war; jihad or jehad: He joined the crusade against the Saracens. --v. 2 campaign, war, battle; take up a cause, lobby, fight: She is crusading for equal rights for women.
crush | crush: n. 1 break, smash, crunch, pulverize, shiver, splinter, pound, grind: The vandals crushed the statue to bits with hammers. 2 crumple, wrinkle, crease, crinkle, rumple, mangle: The shirts came back crushed from the laundry. 3 squash, pulp, mash, squeeze, compress, press: The machine crushes the oranges and extracts the juice. 4 overcome, defeat, conquer, vanquish, beat, thrash; subdue, put down, quash, quell, overwhelm, squelch, suppress, repress: The title-holder crushed the challenger. The junta crushed the uprising without bloodshed. 5 abash, embarrass, shame, mortify, depress, devastate, humiliate, disgrace: She was really crushed when he refused to see her. --n. 6 press, pressure, crowd: When the fire alarm sounded, I was almost caught in the crush of the people trying to escape.
cry | cry: v. 1 weep, sob, wail, keen, bawl, shed tears: Paul cried when they took his mother away. 2 whimper, snivel, pule, mewl, whine, moan, groan, fret, Colloq turn on the waterworks, Brit grizzle: Don''t cry over spilt milk. 3 cry out for. demand, need, call for, beg for, plead for: Her hair is so untidy it cries out for trimming. Wanton murder cries out for vengeance. --n. 4 scream, shriek, wail, howl, yowl: I heard the mournful cries of those being tortured. 5 shout, whoop, yell, howl: Uttering blood-curdling cries, the rebels attacked. 6 call, sound, note: The noise was the cry of the lesser grebe to its mate. 7 war cry, battle-cry, slogan, watchword: ''Down with the king!'' was the cry used to rally the rabble. 8 a far cry. a long way, quite a distance, remote, distant, not, not quite, very different (from): This report is a far cry from what I had expected.
crypt | crypt: n. tomb, vault, mausoleum, sepulchre, grave, catacomb; cellar, basement: He is buried in the crypt of St Paul''s.
cryptic | cryptic: adj. 1 secret, occult, mystical, hidden, esoteric, mystic, cabbalistic: The sarcophagus was covered with cryptic symbols. 2 obscure, mysterious, unclear, nebulous, vague, inscrutable, recondite, arcane, enigmatic, puzzling: I cannot make head or tail of her cryptic remarks.
