stymie
1 synonym for stymie, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — The situation, on the putting green, in which an opponent's ball lies directly between one's ball and the hole (a rule abolished in 1952).
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
stymy
Etymology
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 d...
Full origin of stymie →