as in paralyzing
to render powerless, ineffective, or unable to move
the downtown development committee claims that it's hamstrung by city ordinances protecting historic buildings
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Recent Examples of hamstringing
Sauer warned that the lower ruling was hamstringing enforcement efforts by raising the possibility of contempt when agents conduct immigration raids in the district.
—
Zach Schonfeld, The Hill, 8 Sep. 2025
The Federal Communications Commission is hamstringing its upcoming review of broadband availability by ignoring the prices consumers must pay for Internet service, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said in a statement yesterday.
—Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 7 Aug. 2025
The current lack of talent in these industries is hamstringing organization success.
—Solange Charas, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2024
The defense had complained restrictions on computer use at MDC-Brooklyn were hamstringing the music mogul's ability to assist his attorneys.
—Aaron Katersky, ABC News, 13 Dec. 2024
Ultimately, that could mean hamstringing tech companies’ efforts to reduce hateful or false content on their platforms.
—Clare Duffy, CNN, 29 Nov. 2024
These impending realities presage unimagined new social welfare burdens for a no longer dazzling Chinese economy and may end up hamstringing the funding for Beijing’s international ambitions.
—Nicholas Eberstadt, Foreign Affairs, 10 Oct. 2024
Zach Schonfeld, The Hill, 8 Sep. 2025
The Federal Communications Commission is hamstringing its upcoming review of broadband availability by ignoring the prices consumers must pay for Internet service, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said in a statement yesterday.
—Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 7 Aug. 2025
The current lack of talent in these industries is hamstringing organization success.
—Solange Charas, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2024
The defense had complained restrictions on computer use at MDC-Brooklyn were hamstringing the music mogul's ability to assist his attorneys.
—Aaron Katersky, ABC News, 13 Dec. 2024
Ultimately, that could mean hamstringing tech companies’ efforts to reduce hateful or false content on their platforms.
—Clare Duffy, CNN, 29 Nov. 2024
These impending realities presage unimagined new social welfare burdens for a no longer dazzling Chinese economy and may end up hamstringing the funding for Beijing’s international ambitions.
—Nicholas Eberstadt, Foreign Affairs, 10 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hamstringing
Verb
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High-stakes performance reviews can be especially paralyzing.—
Ruth Oh Reitmeier,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
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During lockdown, Mendelsund was consumed by a deep and paralyzing depression.—
Stuart Miller,
Oc Register,
5 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Thomas’ absence has been crippling for the Giants in recent years.—
Pat Leonard,
New York Daily News,
19 Aug. 2025
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More importantly, if just one lock were disabled or destroyed, the passage from east to west would be essentially inoperable, crippling the United States and its military defenses.—
Shoshi Parks,
Popular Science,
14 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Conversely, tax noncompliance could be the death knell undermining an otherwise strong application.—
Virginia La Torre Jeker,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
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Layered onto all of this is a political system in which priorities flip every few years, undermining the long-term planning and financing that such megaprojects demand.—
Ben Jones,
CNN Money,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Then the hurricane continued on a more northward path around the islands and finally began weakening after powerful 145 mph winds tapered off.—
Dinah Voyles Pulver,
USA Today,
11 Sep. 2025
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Total job growth was revised lower by the largest amount in history, The revisions erased 911 thousand jobs over the full year period, adding to mounting concerns of a weakening labor market and fueling questions as to the reliability of monthly data being used to gauge employment.—
JJ Kinahan,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The study involved 198 adults with generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD, a disabling form of anxiety that affects about 1 in 10 people over the course of a year.—
Jon Hamilton,
NPR,
5 Sep. 2025
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For people in their retirement years, ages 65 to 74, nearly one in four experiences disabling hearing loss.—
Joseph Coughlin,
Forbes.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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To write one’s way out of the incapacitating dependence of daughterhood into autonomy means shedding the unquestioning fidelity of a child.—
Rebecca Mead,
New Yorker,
3 Sep. 2025
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This is not some bloodthirsty pirate contempt with conquering a pleasure planet like everyone thought, but a calculative master manipulator and tactician who knew the value of Kalgan and used it to acquire a larger prize — incapacitating the Empire’s attack forces.—
Rafael Motamayor,
Vulture,
9 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hamstringing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hamstringing. Accessed 12 Sep. 2025.
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