paralyze
To stop someone from acting or deciding.
To make someone unable to act, decide, or respond normally, often because of shock, anxiety, or uncertainty.
To make a body or a person unable to move.
To cause someone or part of the body to lose the ability to move, and sometimes to lose feeling, especially because of illness, injury, or a drug.
To make someone freeze because they are very afraid or shocked.
To make someone suddenly unable to move or speak because of intense fear, shock, or distress.
To stop something from working or continuing.
To stop a place, service, or organization from functioning normally, so that activity cannot continue.
- Base: paralyze
- 3rd Person Singular: paralyzes
- Present Participle: paralyzing
- Past: paralyzed
be paralyzed by anxiety
1unable to act because anxious
Too anxious to do anything.
- Before the interview, she was paralyzed by anxiety.
- He felt paralyzed by anxiety whenever he had to speak in public.
- They were paralyzed by anxiety and kept postponing the decision.
- I was paralyzed by anxiety.
be paralyzed by indecision
1unable to choose or decide
To be unable to decide.
- We were paralyzed by indecision and missed the best chance to act.
- He stayed paralyzed by indecision, waiting for someone else to choose.
- The committee was paralyzed by indecision for weeks.
- I was paralyzed by indecision.
- They are paralyzed by indecision.
paralyzed from the waist down
1unable to move lower body
Unable to move your legs and lower body.
- After the fall, he was paralyzed from the waist down.
- She survived the crash but was paralyzed from the waist down.
- The injury left him paralyzed from the waist down.
- He is paralyzed from the waist down.
paralyzed with fear
1unable to move from fear
So scared you cannot move.
- I stood paralyzed with fear as the dog ran toward me.
- She was paralyzed with fear and couldn’t call for help.
- He felt paralyzed with fear when the lights went out.
- I was paralyzed with fear.
- She is paralyzed with fear.