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Definition of paralyze
paralyzed
;paralyzing
transitive verb
1 : to affect with paralysis The snake's venom paralyzed the mouse.
2 : to make powerless or ineffective A strike would paralyze the industry.
3 : unnerve the parlyzing thing is the uncertainty — Evelyn Whitehead
4 : stun, stupefy She sat paralyzed when she heard the news.
5 : to bring to an end : prevent, destroy deadlock paralyzed action — F. A. Ogg & Harold Zink
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Examples of paralyze in a Sentence
The snake's venom paralyzed the mouse.
The air strikes have paralyzed the city's transportation system.
The company was paralyzed by debt.
Recent Examples of paralyze from the Web
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I was too paralyzed in a cloud of fear to even think about escaping.
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But such leadership voids can be paralyzing for a small shop.
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Pippen's first attempt to model left her paralyzed with fear in a bathroom during an audition in Atlanta in 2005.
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While the surgery itself was a success, the stroke left Galasso partially paralyzed on her left side.
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At just 28 years old, Robin was paralyzed by polio and confined to a hospital bed, but Diana refused to accept that fate, instead bringing him home to not only survive, but to live fully.
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Or there’s a situation with QB Drew Brees’s contract that paralyzes the team and whatever moves the Saints may make that offseason and beyond.
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His brother's apartment building in Port-au-Prince had collapsed and his brother was paralyzed.
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Princeton Community Hospital in rural West Virginia will scrap and replace its entire computer network after being struck by the cyberattack paralyzing computers globally.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'paralyze.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of paralyze
French paralyser, back-formation from paralysie paralysis, from Latin paralysis
PARALYZE Defined for English Language Learners
paralyze
playDefinition of paralyze for English Language Learners
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: to make (a person or animal) unable to move or feel all or part of the body
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: to make (someone or something) unable to function, act, or move
PARALYZE Defined for Kids
paralyze
playDefinition of paralyze for Students
paralyzed
;paralyzing
1 : to cause to be unable to move all or part of the body The snake's venom paralyzed the mouse.
2 : to destroy or decrease something's energy or ability to act The city was paralyzed by a heavy snowstorm.
Medical Dictionary
Learn More about paralyze
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Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for paralyze Spanish Central: Translation of paralyze Nglish: Translation of paralyze for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of paralyze for Arabic speakers
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