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:
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
O'Neill was without talisman Bradley and the reliable Ali McCann coming into the window, and then lost Ballard to a hamstring injury after the first game in Tbilisi.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
He missed the last five regular-season games and all of the playoffs with a left hamstring strain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026
"You saw the nature of how he pulled up. It's a hamstring," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
I tried to follow his directions to the letter, but I felt a shooting pain through the front of my right quadriceps and down the back of my left hamstring.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Bone chips, ACLs, MCLs, pulled hamstrings, multiple Tommy John surgeries and the recent epidemic of dreaded oblique strains just for starters.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2026
In practice, this means “exercises that build your butt while minimizing growth in the quads, hamstrings and thighs.”
From Salon ● May 8, 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
After a knee injury sustained before the Olympic final last August set her back over the winter, two torn hamstrings kept her out of action until just five weeks before the championships.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2025
I pointed the new black ballet flats Daddy had bought me toward the windows, holding the arches of my feet, feeling the stretch in my sleepy hamstrings.
From "Monday's Not Coming" by Tiffany D. Jackson
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 Antonelli hamstrung by his grid drop this weekend, Ferrari have a head start on their rival.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 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
The Dutch Restitution Committee, which advises on looted Nazi art, is also hamstrung as it cannot compel private individuals to return artworks.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
The aftermath was horrific, with media reports showing hospitals without backup power, distraught families herded into the Superdome, emergency workers hamstrung by a lack of supplies.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
“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
They're hamstringing billions of dollars of cancer research by putting on leave the people who make sure that the research dollars go to cancer researchers.
From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2025
It’s not just remote work that’s hamstringing recovery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2023
It grappled with his illusions, crawled through his soul, hamstringing his complacency.
From Gargoyles by Ben Hecht
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.
