hamstrung
Americanadjective
-
having been made powerless or useless; thwarted.
The candidates also face a housing market crisis, subway strikes, and a hamstrung government.
-
having had the hamstring tendon cut.
She fell like a hamstrung deer.
verb
Etymology
Origin of hamstrung
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote that the outage raised concerns that personnel cuts had hamstrung the Fed’s maintenance of the NIC system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
With Farage no longer an MP and fighting his own by-election in Clacton in Essex - he is hamstrung when it comes to devoting as much time and energy to Greater Manchester.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
The midseason trades helped the Clippers start replenishing their draft capital after the blockbuster move that brought Paul George and Kawhi Leonard to L.A. in 2019 hamstrung their assets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2026
“Some potential homebuyers are buoyed by massive stock market gains and business profits, while others are hamstrung by inflation and interest rates at their highest levels of the year,” he wrote.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
His personal charisma and innovative strategies won many battles, but as early as the fall of 1965 Fuller had already realized the need for a new organization, one less hamstrung by federal and local bureaucracies.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
