cri•sis |'krîsis|noun ( pl. -ses |-,sez|)a time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger : the current economic crisis | a family in crisis | a crisis of ...• a time when a difficult or important decision must be made : [as adj. ] a crisis point of history.• the turning point of a disease when an important change takes place, indicating either recovery or death.• the point in a play or story when a crucial conflict takes place, determining the outcome of the plot. ORIGIN late Middle English (denoting the turning point of a disease): medical Latin, from Greek krisis ‘decision,’ from krinein ‘decide.’ The general sense [decisive point] dates from the early 17th cent.-CRITICAL POINT , turning point, crossroads, watershed, head, moment of truth, zero hour, point of no return, Rubicon, doomsday; informal crunch.-EMERGENCY, disaster, catastrophe, calamity; predicament, plight, mess, trouble, dire straits, difficulty, extremity