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Added 10 October 2026

stymie

/ˈstaɪmi/ noun

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about stymie at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A situation where an opponent's ball is directly in the way of one's own ball and the hole, on the putting green (abolished 1952).
An obstacle or obstruction.

verb

To thwart or stump; to cause to fail or to leave hopelessly puzzled, confused, or stuck.
They had lost the key, and the lock stymied the first three locksmiths they called.
To bring into the position of, or impede by, a stymie.

Origin

From the meaning in golf (where the stymie ball blocks the other ball from "seeing" the hole), perhaps from Scots stymie, stimie (“person with poor eyesight”), from Scots stime (“the least bit”). Or from Scots styme (“tiny bit, glimmer”) as in se nocht ane styme (“not to see a glimmer (of something)”). If so, it is a doublet of stime.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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