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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.
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Examples of stymie in a Sentence
Bynick Rockel, Fortune, 19 Apr. 2024
On the day wildfires destroyed much of Lahaina and killed at least 101 people, poor communications between Maui’s mayor and top state and local emergency officials stymied their realization of how serious the situation was.
—Lewis Kamb, NBC News, 17 Apr. 2024
Jackson-Davis’ presence inside — a new wrinkle to the matchup — could help stymie Sabonis at the rim.
—Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 14 Apr. 2024
Once thought to be extinct, southern sea otters’ rebounding population has stalled, stymied by shark bites and parasites.
—Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2024
Brazil and India have long pursued permanent seats on the Security Council, but regional rivals such as Argentina and Pakistan aim to stymie them.
—Comfort Ero, Foreign Affairs, 1 Apr. 2024
But many other scientists were stymied by the bizarre idea that gravity is not a mutual attraction, but a warping of spacetime.
—Rebecca Boyle, TIME, 8 Apr. 2024
The deployment of 1,000 Kenyan police officers has been stymied by both legal challenges in Nairobi and money.
—Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 4 Apr. 2024
But efforts to find out why the bolts were not replaced after being removed during final assembly at Boeing’s Renton, Wash., plant have been stymied because the company said the paperwork does not exist.
—Lori Aratani, Washington Post, 2 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stymie.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Stymie.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stymie. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
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stymie
verb
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