hamstringing

verb

present participle of hamstring
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hamstringing For example, states would often impose tariffs on each other’s goods, even if those goods were moving only from Virginia to Maryland and vice versa, thereby inhibiting the development of a national market and hamstringing internal trade. — Jordan Cash, The Conversation, 8 June 2026 Connecticut has among the highest electric rates in the nation, with some officials and legislators arguing that is hamstringing economic development efforts. — Kenneth R. Gosselin, Hartford Courant, 18 Feb. 2026 But in the business community, people worry about the proposals hamstringing Colorado’s competitiveness with other states, Colorado Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Loren Furman said Tuesday. — Nick Coltrain, Denver Post, 17 Feb. 2026 All three Eastern Conference teams are vying in what has become a wide-open race, with injuries hamstringing several teams. — Tyler Erzberger, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Dec. 2025 The team has had trouble finding traction this season, with early injuries and the six-game suspension of wide receiver Rashee Rice hamstringing their offensive efforts. — Anna Lazarus Caplan, PEOPLE, 8 Dec. 2025 Trump’s action will feed America’s destructive use of oil, while hamstringing us in the green tech race against Chinese and other foreign carmakers. — Clara McMichael, ABC News, 3 Dec. 2025 That strategy has also allowed Nintendo to avoid the high costs and constant retraining that are hamstringing its competitors. — Nicholas Gordon, Fortune, 28 Nov. 2025 In March, cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) disappeared the nearly $2 billion invested in the RECOVER (Researching Covid to Enhance Recovery) initiative, hamstringing research that might have yielded diagnostic tests or better treatments. — Eli Cahan, Rolling Stone, 16 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hamstringing
  1. paralyzing
  2. crippling
  3. undermining
  4. weakening
  5. disabling
  6. incapacitating
Verb
  • Though brief, Yoon’s martial law declaration plunged South Korea into a political crisis, paralyzing politics and high-level diplomacy while rattling financial markets.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 9 July 2026
  • With endless criteria, knowing exactly what to ask for from a pair of jean shorts is paralyzing.
    — Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 25 June 2026
Definition of paralyzing
Verb
  • Florida didn’t have the cap space to work out the shorter term deal without crippling its ability to make other moves this offseason to enhance the roster.
    — Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 3 July 2026
  • Eddie Marsan also delivers a sympathetic turn as the sad sack dad worn down by the effects of capitalism and sometimes crippling OCD.
    — Jon O'Brien, Vulture, 26 June 2026
Definition of crippling
Verb
  • Continuing to charge purchases, especially on the credit cards that are not enrolled in the plan, adds new interest at the same elevated rates while the original debt is still being resolved — undermining the entire point of the program.
    — Angelica Leicht, CBS News, 13 July 2026
  • Nigerian news groups had in March complained to President Bola Tinubu, alleging Alphabet, Meta, and X were among firms whose extraction of content from local publishers was undermining the press industry.
    — Alexander Onukwue, semafor.com, 10 July 2026
Definition of undermining
Verb
  • The German lender notes a growing divergence between the nation's weakening fiscal position and its thriving corporate balance sheets.
    — Joseph Wilkins, CNBC, 9 July 2026
  • The effect results in the typical east-to-west trade winds weakening or even sometimes reversing, allowing warmer water from the western Pacific to move eastward.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 9 July 2026
Definition of weakening
Verb
  • But things are going to be missed, and Bungie now has to take drastic steps of disabling some gear, or aspects of gear, permanently, rather than being able to have the time and testing to fix or rebalance them.
    — Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
  • That said, Amazon also has a history of disabling apps that let users circumnavigate its home screen that Fire devices, including Fire Sticks and Fire TVs, have increasingly used for ads.
    — Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 30 June 2026
Definition of disabling
Verb
  • The driver hits Leatherface in the head with a wrench, incapacitating him long enough for the driver to run away and Sally to jump into the cab of a passing pickup truck.
    — Jordana Rosenfeld, Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 July 2026
  • Tabitha grabs one of the weird, spooky totem things and drives it through the chest of the scarecrow monster attacking Donna, killing it – or at least incapacitating it – and the scarecrows retreat.
    — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 17 May 2026
Definition of incapacitating

Browse Nearby Words

hamstring
hamstringing
hamstrings
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Hamstringing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hamstringing. Accessed 18 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on hamstringing

Nglish: Translation of hamstringing for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 17
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
child-detective
Spot the Misspelled Word July 2026 Those little red underlines can't help you now...
See All