Definition of "hamstrung"

The hamstrung State environmental Protection Administration might get ministerial status.

2008 March 5, Simon Elegant, “China Blog— The National People's Congress: Rubber Stamp?”, in Time

To be hamstrung is to be unable to do what you want to do, as in “the government is hamstrung by the strike.” Literally it is to be crippled because your hamstrings have been cut and you cannot bend your knee. The word ham arose in English […]

2015, Charles Hodgson, Carnal Knowledge: A Navel Gazer's Dictionary of Anatomy, Etymology, and Trivia, St. Martin's Griffin, page 202

Transport Minister Mulley, with just six months left in office before Harold Wilson's Labour government was toppled by Edward Heath's Conservatives, was hamstrung by inefficient working practices - although thankfully for him he did not have to answer to 2020-style media questioning over why slow decision-making allowed costs to escalate.

2020 April 8, Howard Johnston, “East-ended? When the ECML was at risk”, in Rail, page 66