hamstring
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To cripple; to incapacitate.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hamstringSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhæmstɹɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitivefigurative
To cripple; to incapacitate; to disable.
Cripple by cutting the hamstring
transitive
To lame or disable by cutting the tendons of the ham or knee; to hough.
noun
anatomy
One of the great tendons situated in each side of the ham, or space back of the knee, and connected with the muscles of the back of the thigh.
informal
The biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus muscles.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To cripple; to incapacitate; to disable.
Used this way, hamstring is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.