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.
Cleage’s play, it must be said, is hamstrung with exposition.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 19, 2026
Protestants, writes Mr. Ryrie, were hamstrung by “deep cultural, structural and political forces” that made missionary work, even for the most adaptable and sincere, “very difficult.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 19, 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
The longer time you have to invest your $100,000, the more likely you won’t be hamstrung by a correction.
From MarketWatch • May 7, 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.
