stymie

verb sty·mie \ ˈstī-mē \

|Updated on: 6 Aug 2018

Examples: stymie in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of stymie

stymied; stymieing

transitive verb

: to present an obstacle to : stand in the way of

stymied by red tape

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Examples of stymie in a Sentence

Progress on the project has been stymied by lack of money.
the raging blizzard stymied the rescuers' attempts to find the stranded mountain climbers

Recent Examples of stymie from the Web

The lane was finally completed in April, yet similar disagreement has stymied plans for bike lanes on Howard Street.

— rachel swan, SFChronicle.com, "Bicyclists protest as city plans for safer lanes hit bumps," 13 July 2018
The Franks stymied efforts to flee from Europe would have fateful consequences.

— brigit katz, Smithsonian, "Anne Frank’s Family Tried to Escape to the United States, New Research Shows," 6 July 2018
In that position, Wheeler fought air pollution regulations and opposed efforts to address climate change, helping stymie some of the early bipartisan efforts to deal with the issue.

— justin worland, Time, "Scott Pruitt's EPA Resignation Is a Win for Environmental Groups. But It's Complicated," 5 July 2018
And Democrats cannot stymie such growth by rallying behind stricter rules for asylum, or more border security funding, or even Trump’s border wall.

— eric leivtz, Daily Intelligencer, "For Democrats, Immigration Is a Political Problem Without a Policy Solution," 2 July 2018
Tuesday’s verdict stymied Abdulkadir’s hopes of bringing them to Hartford, for now.

— matthew ormseth, courant.com, "Immigrants In Connecticut Worry About Trump Travel Ban, But Supreme Court Ruling Wins Praise From Others," 29 June 2018
At the same time, Kennedy’s presence stymied right-wing efforts to end the practice altogether.

— matt ford, The New Republic, "What the New Supreme Court Will Decide," 29 June 2018
Thursday could have been different, but Mike Leake and the Mariners bullpen stymied the Orioles.

— jon meoli, baltimoresun.com, "Orioles swept by Mariners, 4-2, despite strong efforts from Yacabonis, Ramírez," 28 June 2018
But recent bottlenecks in big producing regions have stymied growth somewhat—limiting America’s ability to help cool prices this time around.

— summer said, WSJ, "OPEC, Russia Promise More Oil, but Can They Pump Enough?," 20 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'stymie.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Golf was being played in Scotland as early as the 15th century, but it wasn't until the 19th century that the sport really caught on in England and North America. It was also in the 19th century that the word stymie entered English as a noun referring to a golfing situation in which one player's ball lies between another ball and the hole on the putting green, thereby blocking the line of play. Later, stymie came to be used as a verb meaning "to bring into the position of, or impede by, a stymie." By the early 20th century, the verb was being applied in similarly vexing non-golf contexts.