as in paralyzing
to render powerless, ineffective, or unable to move
town councils felt immobilized by the powers newly granted to the state legislation
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Recent Examples of immobilizing
As the machines thunder down the track, momentum causes the weight-box to slide across the trailer until the balance shifts so much that the sled digs into the ground and the back tires lift, immobilizing it.
—
Zach Jaworski, NPR, 18 Aug. 2025
Zach Jaworski, NPR, 18 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for immobilizing
Verb
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Discipline without optimism is paralyzing.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
7 Oct. 2025
-
Shortly after Henry’s death, Augusta suffered two paralyzing strokes, intensifying her and Ed’s isolated, co-dependent relationship before her death in 1945.—
Andrew McGowan,
Variety,
3 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Since then, they've been forced to work remotely — at a time when the government was doling out return-to-office mandates — preventing access to labs and crippling the center's mission of embedding NASA climate scientists within international academia.—
Josh Dinner,
Space.com,
31 Oct. 2025
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On December 7, 1941, 353 Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor, killing 2,403 Americans and crippling much of the Pacific Fleet.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
20 Oct. 2025
Verb
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He is accused of slipping incapacitating drugs into victims’ food or drinks before assaulting them between 2021 and 2024.—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten,
FOXNews.com,
16 Oct. 2025
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While the name suggests something far more trivial, significant damage to the ligaments of the metatarsophalangeal joint can be incapacitating.—
Anthony Crupi,
Sportico.com,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Given the disease’s wide range of trajectories and manifestations—from mild and manageable to severely disabling—some now regard it as a group of diseases, rather than a single one.—
Lucinda Rosenfeld,
New Yorker,
25 Oct. 2025
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It is associated with hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impair daily functioning and can be disabling.—
Vanessa Etienne,
PEOPLE,
21 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Immobilizing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/immobilizing. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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