noun

a time of intense difficulty or danger.

the current economic crisis

catastrophe,calamity,cataclysm,emergency,disaster,predicament,plight,mess,dilemma,quandary,setback,reverse,reversal,upheaval,drama,trouble,dire straits,hard times,hardship,adversity,extremity,distress,difficulty,fix,pickle,jam,stew,scrape,bind,hole,sticky situation,hot water,hell,hell on earth,hassle,stress,car crash,spot of bother