immobilize
Americanverb (used with object)
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immobilizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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immobilized,
past participle, past
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immobilizing
present participle
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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:
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
Calvin, known throughout Altadena as “Coach Z,” has refused to allow the insurmountable loss to immobilize him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2025
“Once they’ve captured their prey, they immobilize it with a very sticky mucus or slime.”
From National Geographic ● Aug. 4, 2023
To ensure that he did not harm himself, or the scanner, the veterinary team needed to immobilize him.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2022
“Enough snow. Don’t want to immobilize the city, do we?”
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
A stock market that supposedly facilitates capital flows thus immobilizes capital within companies.
From Barron's ● Jan. 2, 2026
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
Another gadget is an inflatable hug that immobilizes meanies in its enveloping embrace.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 23, 2019
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
The document also addresses key European interests, including the need to use immobilized Russian central bank assets held in Europe to support Ukraine and its recovery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 23, 2025
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
When Campos asked why the agent had immobilized his vehicle, the agent replied, “I’m not going to argue with you, bro. You did what you did, I did what I did.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2025
While run-of-the-mill pessimists might become immobilized and despondent by focusing on negative outcomes, defensive pessimists take action to avoid them.
From Salon ● Dec. 1, 2024
Dumbledore had wordlessly immobilized Harry, and the second he had taken to perform the spell had cost him the chance of defending himself.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
Regulators also have agreed to turn some of that waste into a concrete-like grout, rather than immobilizing it in glass.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 30, 2024
Trainers were immobilizing the leg before the cart even reached Lathan.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 1, 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
The original architecture for immobilizing the tank waste was to chemically separate it, using the now-mothballed treatment plant, into low and high radioactive streams.
From New York Times ● May 31, 2023
I've seen her bring back people suffering from immobilizing sadness since.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
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.
