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hamstrung. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
hamstrung, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
hamstrung in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
hamstrung you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Pronunciation
Adjective
hamstrung (comparative more hamstrung, superlative most hamstrung)
- (figurative) Restricted as if by being crippled with a hamstring.
2015, Charles Hodgson, Carnal Knowledge: A Navel Gazer's Dictionary of Anatomy, Etymology, and Trivia, St. Martin's Griffin, →ISBN, page 202: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 […]
2020 April 8, Howard Johnston, “East-ended? When the ECML was at risk”, in Rail, page 66: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.
Translations
restricted as if with a crippling hamstring
Verb
hamstrung
- simple past and past participle of hamstring