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

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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
  • Airpower should be assessed by the strategic effects it is tasked to achieve—disrupting enemy systems, paralyzing command, destroying key capabilities, etc.
    — David A. Deptula, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
  • 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
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
  • The act grants the NCAA absolute control over athlete eligibility through this antitrust shield, undermining federal and state law, specifically Title IX and who can compete in the women’s category.
    — Katie Uhlaender OutKick, FOXNews.com, 20 July 2026
  • At least a dozen attacks on Ebola treatment centers and health workers in Congo’s Ituri province are undermining containment efforts, raising fresh alarm over safety at the outbreak’s epicenter.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 18 July 2026
Definition of undermining
Verb
  • The Knesset also recently passed several bills connected with Netanyahu’s attempts to overhaul the judiciary, including increasing government control over broadcast media and weakening the role of the attorney general.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 17 July 2026
  • European commitment is weakening, with record Russian LNG purchases and growing pro-Russian political factions.
    — Wesley Alexander Hill, Forbes.com, 17 July 2026
Definition of weakening
Verb
  • Every improvement in surveillance capability encourages new methods of avoidance, whether through disabling tracking devices, manipulating vessel identities, or exploiting gaps between different monitoring systems.
    — IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 16 July 2026
  • Not content to wait for local officials to strike down ALPR contracts, concerned citizens are taking matters into their own hands by disabling or cutting down Flock camera towers wherever they’re found.
    — Joe Wilkins, Futurism, 16 July 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

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Cite this Entry

“Hamstringing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hamstringing. Accessed 25 Jul. 2026.

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