hamstrung

Definitions

Restricted as if by being crippled with a hamstring; hamstringed.

dialectal, figuratively, nonstandard

Equivalents

Examples

“The hamstrung State environmental Protection Administration might get⟳ ministerial status.”

“To be hamstrung is to be unable to do what you want⟳ to do, as in “the government is hamstrung by the strike⟳.” Literally it is to be crippled because your hamstrings have⟳ been cut⟳ and you cannot bend⟳ your knee. The word ham arose in English […]”

“Transport⟳ Minister Mulley, with just six months left in office before Harold Wilson's Labour government was toppled by Edward Heath's Conservatives, was hamstrung by inefficient working practices - although thankfully for him he did not have⟳ to answer⟳ to 2020-style media questioning over why slow decision-making allowed costs to escalate.”

CEFR level