immobilize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make immobile or immovable; fix in place.
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to prevent the use, activity, or movement of.
The hurricane immobilized the airlines.
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to deprive of the capacity for mobilization.
The troops were immobilized by the enemy.
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Medicine/Medical. to prevent, restrict, or reduce normal movement in (the body, a limb, or a joint), as by a splint, cast, or prescribed bed rest.
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to render (an opponent's strategy) ineffective; stymie.
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Finance.
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to establish a monetary reserve by withdrawing (specie) from circulation.
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to create fixed capital in place of (circulating capital).
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verb
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to make or become immobile
to immobilize a car
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finance
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to remove (specie) from circulation and hold it as a reserve
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to convert (circulating capital) into fixed capital
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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immobilizesimple
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immobilizessimple
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have immobilizedperfect
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has immobilizedperfect
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am immobilizingprogressive
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are immobilizingprogressive
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is immobilizingprogressive
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have been immobilizingperfect progressive
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has been immobilizingperfect progressive
Past
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immobilizedsimple
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had immobilizedperfect
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was immobilizingprogressive
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were immobilizingprogressive
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had been immobilizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of immobilize
1870–75; immobile + -ize; see mobilize and compare French immobiliser
Explanation
To immobilize something is to make it impossible for it to move. You can immobilize a battery-operated toy by taking the battery out. You could immobilize your brother's car by letting the air out of his tires, or immobilize your little sister by making her so scared of an imaginary monster in the bathroom that she can't move a muscle. In both examples, someone or something is prevented from moving. To immobilize is to make immobile, or motionless, from the Latin root immobilis, which means both "immovable," and also "hard-hearted."
Vocabulary lists containing immobilize
Stargirl
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List 4
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The Secret Life of Bees
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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.
See Examples For:
What the reforms would discourage is the strategic use of firings to immobilize the commissions themselves.
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026
And then, of course, spiders are venomous, toting enough toxin to immobilize and liquify prey and, in a few cases, cause lesions, necrosis or death in humans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
“Once they’ve captured their prey, they immobilize it with a very sticky mucus or slime.”
From National Geographic ● Aug. 4, 2023
Wildlife conflict specialists responded to the scene and contacted a local veterinarian about possible treatment, but the lion died before the team could immobilize it for capture, Daly said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 15, 2023
“At least not yet. We also had to immobilize his jaw so that the fracture would heal, so it’s wired shut.”
From "The Boy in the Black Suit" by Jason Reynolds
"Whether it immobilizes us, or instead we denounce and shout to the world what is happening."
From Barron's ● Apr. 20, 2026
“It immobilizes people; they’re stuck, because they just don’t know.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 17, 2023
Rb1 Nd6, and the beautifully placed Black knight immobilizes the proud White center and keeps the White rook from invading.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 26, 2021
Fukuyama and a virus that immobilizes people into teeth-chattering zombies — are as haunting as the villainous Shadow King, played by Audrey Plaza, who at times also appears as a nightmarishly pale, obese figure.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2018
The amebocytes of starfish were recently found to contain a material that immobilizes the macrophages of mammals, resembling a product of immune lymphocytes in higher forms.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
Uncertainty over not just the future of EVs but tariffs and a weakening U.S. auto market has immobilized many suppliers, she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
It’s also known that Waymo pays humans to physically deal with vehicles immobilized by — for example — a passenger’s failure to fully close a car door when exiting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 6, 2026
The injuries observed suggest that orcas may have developed a refined technique to trigger this immobilized state while reducing the risk of being bitten.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2025
I don't have the privilege of being immobilized, so since Wednesday morning I've been working on what I can do to help the situation in any way that I possibly can.
From Salon ● Nov. 13, 2024
The effectiveness of machine guns as defensive weapons kept both sides from achieving a breakthrough and helped prolong the deadlock of trench warfare that immobilized the Western Front.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
Trainers were immobilizing the leg before the cart even reached Lathan.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 1, 2023
These cars are not equipped with push-button ignitions and immobilizing anti-theft devices.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 16, 2023
Zelda Williams took to Twitter to share that the Oscar winner, who died at 63 in 2014, likely would have supported the SAG-AFTRA strike that’s currently immobilizing Hollywood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2023
Ms. Yellen, a former central banker who initially had reservations about immobilizing the assets, said that while the concept was being studied, she believed that seizing the funds would violate U.S. law.
From New York Times ● May 31, 2022
An emotional heaviness pinned his limbs down into the hard mattress, immobilizing him.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
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.
