Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To thwart; stump: a problem in thermodynamics that stymied half the class.
- n. An obstacle or obstruction.
- n. Sports A situation in golf in which an opponent's ball obstructs the line of play of one's own ball on the putting green.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In golf-playing, a position in which a player has to putt for the hole with his opponent's ball directly in the line of his approach.
- n. See stimy.
Wiktionary
- n. An obstacle or obstruction.
- n. golf A situation where an opponent's ball is directly in the way of one's own ball and the hole, on the putting green.
- v. To thwart or stump; to cause to fail or to leave hopelessly puzzled, confused, or stuck.
GNU Webster's 1913
- (Golf) The position of two balls on the putting green such that, being more than six inches apart, one ball lies directly between the other and the hole at which the latter must be played; also, the act of bringing the balls into this position.
- (Golf) To bring into the position of, or impede by, a stymie.
WordNet 3.0
- v. hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of
- n. a situation in golf where an opponent's ball blocks the line between your ball and the hole
- n. a thwarting and distressing situation
Etymologies
- Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“That situation was called a stymie, and the term came to mean any block or obstruction. tee off; teed off To tee off is to begin the play of a hole by driving the ball off the tee.”
“He had a great game, but fortunately we had a balance enough of attack to kind of stymie whatever he was able to do, '' Gordon said.”
“This is a very useful stroke to practise, for the particular kind of stymie to which it applies occurs very frequently, and is one of the most exasperating of all.”
“But former city Lord Mayor Cllr Dermot Lacey (Lab) says there is opposition to the new post from a 'coalition of Fianna Fáil backbenchers and bureaucrats' who want to 'stymie”
“That's right, the bitch is flaming mad (you can tell by the use of the word "stymie"), and not gonna take it anymore.”
“It's still unclear whether AAR is seeking to participate in the Rosneft-BP partnership or to stymie it completely.”
The Wall Street Journal: BP Suggests Arbitration in Russia Dispute
“So hammerer sounds like you want to stymie the free market capitalism of the insurance companies.”
Obama administration begins legal defense of health care law
“Republicans can expect "a rather dismal future" with Hispanic voters if they stymie reform or tolerate heated anti-immigrant rhetoric, he argued.”
“This won't happen if there's even the slightest sense among his core constituency that he fumbled the ball in being bold and assertive on his jobs proposals, and hitting back hard at the GOP for doing everything it can to stymie his proposals.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘stymie’.
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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(1st_wk_150)-Dec_5_2012
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron, paradox, realm and 297 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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fancy essay words
hiatus, ontology, exegesis, hermeneutics, dialectics, demiurge, ascertain, contention, eschatological, synecdoche, centripetal, centrifugal and 96 more...
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GRE 1100
drudgery, implore, hapless, nuance, wrest, incipient, inadvertent, tremulous, bristle, euphemism, disdain, pugnacious and 346 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1834 more...
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GRE Reference
A list of words unfamiliar to me that I have repeatedly encountered in GRE question sets.
parochial, clique, salacious, aegis, ostracize, conceited, sacrilegious, inane, serendipity, gourmand, polemic, tenuous and 138 more...
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My GRE Vocab
moniker, sobriquet, prerogative, aberration, aberrant, nuance, notorious, infamous, content, refer, allude, renown and 109 more...
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1100 words you need to know
GRE words
voracious, indiscriminate, replete, steeped, eminent, perceive, intrepid, compound, automaton, reticent, interminable, drudgery and 288 more...
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Angels and Demons Word list
behemoth, disquietude, exalted, heretical, schlock, delirium, precipice, infallible, fathom, fervent, cavern, ardent and 35 more...
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Need to Know!
elicit, educe, refute, cogency, churlish, martinet, veritable, polyglot, dissemble, histrionics, prevarication, verbiage and 166 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for stymie.
Wordplayer Both versions of the word with the suffix "-ing" are strangely written: stymying and stymieing. Mar 17, 2011
duane9 Small Stocks Stymie ETFs
--Wall Street Journal 6/16/08
Push to block new rules on Web gambling stymied
--Las Vegas Review-Journal
http://www.lvrj.com/business/21712069.html Jun 26, 2008
oroboros The pooltable equivalent is snooker. Jun 27, 2007
reesetee Interesting! And I'm guessing it's of Scottish origin? Jun 26, 2007
slumry Whoda thunk it was a golf word? (Well, maybe a golfer woulda thunk it.) Jun 26, 2007