Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use paralyze in a sentence

12 example sentences · verb

Paralyze means to afflict with paralysis. Example: “The transport strike paralyzed the city.”

Examples of paralyze by meaning

verbTo render unable to function properly.

  • The transport strike paralyzed the city.

More sentences with paralyze

  • The snake's paralyzing venom prevented the mouse from escaping.From the entry paralyzing
  • It's a fairly paralyzing time to be a guilty white American liberal.2017 January 3, Jesse Singal, “Guilty White Liberals Are Purchasing Racial Indulgences”, in Intelligencer, New York, N.Y.: New York Media…. From the entry race-baity
  • I’d shunted away the knowledge—paralyzing, if you let it in—that stepping on an airplane is an extraordinary act of trust.2025 March 11, Lauren Smiley, “The Worst 7 Years in Boeing’s History—and the Man Who Won’t Stop Fighting for Answers. Fatal crashes. A…. From the entry they
  • PIIIGS are part of an economic block that could paralyze the entire "Planet Money" if the hemorrhage is not dealt with.2011 October 17, Vic Hummert, “Movie sheds light on Wall Street protests”, in The Advertiser. From the entry PIIIGS
  • Such feelings are normal, but don't let them paralyze you.2007, Kaaronica Evans-Ware, The Art of Bitchcraft. From the entry bitchling
  • The man suffers from two paralyzing fears: anablephobia, the fear of looking up, and agyrophobia, the fear of crossing the street.2006, Andrew Razeghi, Hope: How Triumphant Leaders Create the Future, →ISBN, page 175. From the entry agyrophobia
  • Curarize the frog sufficiently to paralyze the motor nerves.1906, William Townsend Porter, An Introduction to Physiology, page 569. From the entry curarize
  • Everyone kept turning around and craning their necks to look at the gaps, and Miss Griffin gave all the turners and craners paralyzing stares whenever she caught their eye.2016, Robin Stevens, Murder Is Bad Manners, page 236. From the entry turner
  • Phobias are real and can be beneficial to keep us safe, that is, if we don't allow them to paralyze us and prevent us from enjoying life.2013 October 30, Suzanne Johnson, “Beyond the office door: Phobias”, in Washburn County Register, volume 125, number 11, page 8. From the entry polyphobia
  • Not just giggles or a few ha-has, but the paralyzing kind of laughter, when the eyes tear and the nose runs and one gasps seemingly unto apoplexy.2012, David Mazzarella, “Benigna’s Story”, in Always Eat the Hard Crust of the Bread: Recollections and Recipes from My Centenarian…. From the entry ha-ha
  • Justice Stevens urged states to consider abandoning one of the three chemicals, the paralyzing drug that would leave an unsedated inmate conscious but unable to move, breathe or cry out.2008 April 17, Adam Liptak, “Challenges Remain for Lethal Injection”, in New York Times. From the entry unsedated

Meaning of paralyze

  1. verb To afflict with paralysis.
  2. verb To render unable to move; to immobilize.
  3. verb To render unable to function properly.

Full definition of paralyze

Questions about paralyze in a sentence

How do you use paralyze in a sentence?
Paralyze is used as a verb. For example: “The transport strike paralyzed the city.”
What is a short sentence with paralyze?
“The transport strike paralyzed the city.”
What does paralyze mean?
Paralyze means to afflict with paralysis.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: paralyze (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use paralyze in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/paralyze. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.