hamstring
Americannoun
-
hamstrings
plural
-
(in humans and other primates) any of the tendons that bound the ham of the knee.
-
(in quadrupeds) the great tendon at the back of the hock.
verb (used with object)
-
hamstrings,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hamstrung,
past participle, past
-
hamstringing
present participle
noun
-
anatomy any of the tendons at the back of the knee
-
the large tendon at the back of the hock in the hind leg of a horse, etc
verb
-
to cripple by cutting the hamstring of
-
to ruin or thwart
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hamstringsimple
-
hamstringssimple
-
have hamstrungperfect
-
has hamstrungperfect
-
am hamstringingprogressive
-
are hamstringingprogressive
-
is hamstringingprogressive
-
have been hamstringingperfect progressive
-
has been hamstringingperfect progressive
Past
-
hamstrungsimple
-
had hamstrungperfect
-
was hamstringingprogressive
-
were hamstringingprogressive
-
had been hamstringingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hamstring
Explanation
Your hamstrings are groups of muscles and tendons between your hips and knees. If you pull a hamstring while running or jumping, you'll feel pain at the back of your thigh. Ouch! The hamstring muscle group is one of the most powerful in your body — attached to the knee and hip, these are the muscles and tendons that make it possible for you to run, walk, and jump. It's fairly common for athletes to injure their hamstrings and be (temporarily) immobilized. Fittingly, hamstring is also a verb meaning "render powerless." So an astronaut might complain that a lack of funding will hamstring NASA, making planned Mars voyages impossible.
Vocabulary lists containing hamstring
This Week in Words: December 1 - 7 , 2018
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Physical Education - Middle School and High School
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Planet Middle School
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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:
They need their top man back from his hamstring injury as soon as possible.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Star receiver Rashee Rice suffered a hamstring injury in the first quarter of the Chiefs’ 30-27 win over the Raiders and did not return.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
Jos Buttler is out with the hamstring injury he sustained last week, while Jacob Bethell is continuing his recovery from knee surgery.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
After spending time in Europe rehabbing his hamstring over the summer, Doncic said he’s healthy and ready to go with no restrictions when the Lakers begin training camp Tuesday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026
I massage a spasm from my hamstring as I march past the twelfth floor, and try to recover some of my lost air.
From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth
In practice, this means “exercises that build your butt while minimizing growth in the quads, hamstrings and thighs.”
From Salon ● May 8, 2026
It’s primarily the hamstrings and quadriceps, but everything, including the glutes, calves, hips and core, counts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2026
Uphills exact a harsh toll on an athlete’s hamstrings, glutes and calves while spiking their heart rate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2025
"The girls love mimicking those sorts of things. We'll probably have to put a stop on it as we don't want to do any hamstrings!"
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2025
It’s not any sorer than my quads and hamstrings.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
Unfortunately, the production is hamstrung by fundamental problems in the writing, directing and acting, all pointing to a failure of control.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 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
Producers could become hamstrung without somewhere to send the gas, which comes from the same wells as oil.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 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
“My biggest concern is that they may be hamstringing themselves in developing their model,” CFRA’s Snyder said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 27, 2026
Bank executives say rewards programs could drain their firms of deposits, hamstringing their ability to lend.
From Barron's ● Mar. 9, 2026
Challenges to get it done include market conditions that are hamstringing other planned real estate developments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2025
But it would take another two months for me to shake the thought of myself as an employee — an image that was hamstringing my income.
From Salon ● Jan. 11, 2025
It was dusk, and the men, being rather ashamed of their folly in dancing instead of hamstringing the animal and securing their beef, slunk back to their vessels.
From The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile by Sir Samuel White Baker
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.
