How to Use paralyze in a Sentence

paralyze

verb
  • The snake's venom paralyzed the mouse.
  • The air strikes have paralyzed the city's transportation system.
  • The company was paralyzed by debt.
  • Did the praise help you with the next project, or paralyze you?
    Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2020
  • The second drug paralyzes the muscles, and the third stops the heart.
    Chiara Eisner, NPR, 18 Apr. 2024
  • The first deep freeze in a decade paralyzed Texas from the Panhandle to the Gulf.
    Hollace Ava Weiner, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 Jan. 2024
  • The disease left Paul paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe on his own.
    Mira Cheng, CNN, 13 Mar. 2024
  • Most of the time, we’re paralyzed by fear: What happens if….
    Ashley Stahl, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2023
  • In the worst of cases, dachshunds can even be paralyzed due to back injuries.
    Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 15 Dec. 2023
  • The fall partially paralyzed him on the right side of his body.
    Sharon Coolidge, Cincinnati.com, 12 Sep. 2019
  • He was left unable to speak and paralyzed over much of his body.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Oct. 2019
  • This move paralyzes them and causes the whale sharks to slip into a kind of trance.
    Rachel Raposas, People.com, 13 Dec. 2024
  • One was paralyzed from the chest down, his mother told CNN.
    Janet Lorin, Fortune, 4 Dec. 2023
  • After a few games, some of the players were paralyzed by fear.
    Lia Assimakopoulos, Dallas News, 17 Aug. 2023
  • The storm then moved over Tokyo and paralyzed transport.
    Jessie Yeung, CNN, 9 Sep. 2019
  • The shooting left Theard paralyzed from the neck down until his death.
    William Thornton | Wthornton@al.com, al, 9 May 2023
  • In 2010, Melanie Reid fell off a horse and was paralyzed below the shoulders.
    IEEE Spectrum, 20 May 2024
  • The rare virus affects nerves in the face and ear and left Bieber’s face partially paralyzed.
    Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 4 Sep. 2024
  • She is photographed in profile, to hide the side of her face that had been paralyzed by a recent stroke.
    Lonnie G. Bunch Iii, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Apr. 2023
  • The standoff paralyzed most of the operations of the House for days.
    Scott MacFarlane, CBS News, 15 Oct. 2024
  • The pair decided to research the nature of the venom that the snails used to paralyze their tiny fish prey.
    Katie Hunt, CNN, 14 Sep. 2022
  • Bryan Hall suffered a spinal cord injury about three years ago that left him paralyzed from the chest down.
    Kate Silver, Washington Post, 5 Dec. 2019
  • The marmot looks paralyzed by fear, its fingers splayed and mouth agape.
    Natasha Daly, National Geographic, 15 Oct. 2019
  • The shooting paralyzed Ortiz, 43, from the waist down, forcing him to use a wheelchair.
    Angie Dimichele, Sun Sentinel, 1 Mar. 2023
  • The bullet severed her spinal chord, paralyzing her from the waist down.
    Hannah Wiley, Los Angeles Times, 10 Nov. 2023
  • The important thing is not to let that fear paralyze you or hold you back from achieving your goals.
    Cheryl Robinson, Forbes, 11 Feb. 2023
  • In the past year, dozens of public entities in the US have been paralyzed by ransomware.
    Ars Technica, 27 Aug. 2019
  • In the past year, dozens of public entities in the U.S. have been paralyzed by ransomware.
    Renee Dudley, ProPublica, 27 Aug. 2019
  • The stop order has paralyzed U.S. aid programs around the world, bankrupting fragile local aid groups and small businesses and putting lives at risk.
    Andrew Natsios, Foreign Affairs, 7 Feb. 2025
  • The elderly single mom, played with an irritable, bone-deep bitterness by Irish actor Fiona Shaw, has spent the past few years paralyzed by an illness no one can diagnose.
    Peter Debruge, Variety, 14 Feb. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'paralyze.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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