to be hamstrung

hamstrung
having been made powerless or useless; thwarted:

The candidates also face a housing market crisis, subway strikes, and a hamstrung government.

having had the hamstring tendon cut:
She fell like a hamstrung deer.

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hamstrung

past simple and past participle of hamstring

In human anatomy, a hamstring is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee. The hamstrings are susceptible to injury.

(Definition of hamstrung from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
EXAMPLES of hamstrung
hamstrung
We are now no longer hamstrung by the logical analysis of not, which requires a propositional form for the negation to stand over.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Once there, the missionaries found themselves hamstrung by bureaucratic red tape.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Medicaid, in fact, stands out as a remarkable oasis of spending and coverage growth amid a parched desert of hamstrung antipoverty programmes.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The debate often hamstrung the physicians.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Disappointments such as these revealed that fear of electoral reprisal from racial conservatives hamstrung many politicians who might, in other vicinities, have been far more liberal on racial issues.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
We are once again in one sense hamstrung by our own rules of procedure.
From the Hansard archive
It has hamstrung us for too many years and has given considerable advantages to other world competitors for international trade.
From the Hansard archive
We might make a small mistake and be unnecessarily hamstrung about it.
From the Hansard archive
Yet such industries are being hamstrung by this blind, obsessive, idiotic, inflexible imposition of cash limits.
From the Hansard archive
The local authorities have been hamstrung in their attempts to deal with the situation.
From the Hansard archive
He is also hamstrung by the fact that he has not resolved his attitude towards flat-rate contributions and earnings-related contributions.
From the Hansard archive
Such specifications have hamstrung our designers and manufacturers, whereas this new arrangement will free them.
From the Hansard archive
I do not believe that foundation trusts will work, because the manager will still be hamstrung by such interference.
From the Hansard archive
The assembly would be hamstrung until after the election three months later.
From the Hansard archive
In that way they were entirely hamstrung and were generally unable to proceed with their schemes unless they went elsewhere for their loans.
From the Hansard archive