Difference between verbs

Mx_Mlr

12 days ago

Hi there, I study political and economic English. I often come across those different verbs but I don’t know the exact difference. To stymie To hobble To hamper To hinder To impede Could you tell me about it and provide examples ? Thank you !

3 comments

cryptoglyph7•12 days ago

Journalistically, they are basically used interchangeably, but have different origins.. For example, "stymie"was a term in golf in which your ball is blocked by another player's ball so you can't make a direct shot to the cup. "Hobble"was specifically the act of injuring someone so that they couldn't walk very easily. I think"hinder"comes from the same root as the German "hinten", to be behind something.

SnooDonuts6494•12 days ago

Tell you about what? They're four words. They have similar meanings. What do you want to know?

ProteusReturns•12 days ago

"Impede" is Latinate, meaning something like, "putting a thing in front of the foot" (i.e., blocking progress). Other words you wrote have already been glossed. So, e.g.: "The heavy crowd impeded his journey through the market." Since it's a Latinate verb, it sounds most approriate in formal contexts, imo.