as in to paralyze
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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Examples of hamstring in a Sentence
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This limits the risk that banks will be hamstrung in their lending efforts if the economy were to soften, and businesses required extra credit.
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Ron Insana, CNBC, 11 Sep. 2024
Various international organizations and charities, such as UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders, provide some services but are hamstrung by the ongoing fighting, Israeli restrictions on goods going into Gaza, and the devastation of the territory’s health infrastructure.
—Daniel Byman, Foreign Affairs, 30 July 2024
Its development was hamstrung by Boeing’s greed, and now the spaceship is stuck on the International Space Station unable to transport its astronauts home.
—Amber Dasilva / Jalopnik, Quartz, 3 Sep. 2024
Outbreak response efforts in the DRC and other African countries have once again been hamstrung by the same challenges health officials faced during previous outbreaks and pandemics, including Covid: a lack of global solidarity and an unwillingness to share life-saving resources.
—Jess Craig, Vox, 15 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hamstring 
Ron Insana, CNBC, 11 Sep. 2024
Various international organizations and charities, such as UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders, provide some services but are hamstrung by the ongoing fighting, Israeli restrictions on goods going into Gaza, and the devastation of the territory’s health infrastructure.
—Daniel Byman, Foreign Affairs, 30 July 2024
Its development was hamstrung by Boeing’s greed, and now the spaceship is stuck on the International Space Station unable to transport its astronauts home.
—Amber Dasilva / Jalopnik, Quartz, 3 Sep. 2024
Outbreak response efforts in the DRC and other African countries have once again been hamstrung by the same challenges health officials faced during previous outbreaks and pandemics, including Covid: a lack of global solidarity and an unwillingness to share life-saving resources.
—Jess Craig, Vox, 15 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hamstring
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hamstring.' 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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“Hamstring.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hamstring. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.
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