stymie

verb

sty·mie ˈstī-mē

stymied; stymieing

Synonyms of stymie next

transitive verb

: to present an obstacle to : stand in the way of

stymied by red tape

Did you know?

Golf was being played in Scotland as early as the 15th century, but it wasn't until the 19th century that the sport really caught on in England and North America. It was also in the 19th century that the word stymie entered English as a noun referring to a golfing situation in which one player's ball lies between another ball and the hole on the putting green, thereby blocking the line of play. Later, stymie came to be used as a verb meaning "to bring into the position of, or impede by, a stymie." By the early 20th century, the verb was being applied in similarly vexing non-golf contexts.

Examples of stymie in a Sentence

Progress on the project has been stymied by lack of money. the raging blizzard stymied the rescuers' attempts to find the stranded mountain climbers

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Ben Carson wanted to achieve some of that at HUD during the last Trump administration, but he was stymied by Congress. —

Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 4 Dec. 2024 Much of its potential was stymied by regulatory hurdles, interoperability challenges, and an inability to align expectations with real-world capabilities. —

Zennon Kapron, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024 The media giant last week put an upbeat spin on its move to shed what Wall Street sees as an albatross — the bulk of NBCUniversal’s cable networks, which have seen their revenue growth stymied by the cord-cutting revolution. —

Brian Steinberg, Variety, 26 Nov. 2024 Franchise relocations require the support of 75% of the sport's 30 franchise owners, and in the past, such moves have been stymied by turf wars related to attendance or TV rights. —

David Faris, theweek, 25 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for stymie