How to Use paralyze in a Sentence

paralyze

verb
  • The snake's venom paralyzed the mouse.
  • The air strikes have paralyzed the city's transportation system.
  • The company was paralyzed by debt.
  • He is paralyzed from the neck down.
    — Sophia Li, NPR, 17 Aug. 2025
  • Did the praise help you with the next project, or paralyze you?
    — Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2020
  • Friends who had been paralyzed and beat the odds to walk again.
    — Scott Hamilton, STAT, 4 Mar. 2026
  • He was paralyzed from the waist down.
    — Lori Riley, Hartford Courant, 9 Mar. 2026
  • Williams was paralyzed in the crash.
    — Karen Morfitt, CBS News, 2 Apr. 2026
  • Williams was paralyzed in the crash.
    — Karen Morfitt, CBS News, 4 Apr. 2026
  • He was left unable to speak and paralyzed over much of his body.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Oct. 2019
  • The city was briefly paralyzed.
    — Steve Fisher, Los Angeles Times, 17 May 2026
  • The crash severed his spinal cord and he was paralyzed from the waist down.
    — Lori Riley, Hartford Courant, 5 Mar. 2026
  • He was struck by stray gunfire, which left him paralyzed from the waist down.
    — Kyle Stackpole, Howard County Times, 20 Mar. 2018
  • Don’t sit still and let a setback paralyze you.
    — Bj Coleman, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
  • Samuelson is paralyzed from the chest down, court records state.
    — Jim Woods, Chicago Tribune, 26 May 2026
  • The impact of the scream paralyzed him.
    — Josh Ireland, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026
  • Congress does not fail to act on guns because it is paralyzed.
    — John J. Donohue, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 Sep. 2025
  • The fall partially paralyzed him on the right side of his body.
    — Sharon Coolidge, Cincinnati.com, 12 Sep. 2019
  • This move paralyzes them and causes the whale sharks to slip into a kind of trance.
    — Rachel Raposas, People.com, 13 Dec. 2024
  • The stroke left him paralyzed in all four limbs and incapable of speech.
    — Elena Nicolaou, refinery29.com, 22 Mar. 2018
  • After a few games, some of the players were paralyzed by fear.
    — Lia Assimakopoulos, Dallas News, 17 Aug. 2023
  • In the worst of cases, dachshunds can even be paralyzed due to back injuries.
    — Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 15 Dec. 2023
  • Have joy, have fun, come together and do not be paralyzed by fear.
    — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 31 Jan. 2026
  • The second drug paralyzes the muscles, and the third stops the heart.
    — Chiara Eisner, NPR, 18 Apr. 2024
  • The marmot looks paralyzed by fear, its fingers splayed and mouth agape.
    — Natasha Daly, National Geographic, 15 Oct. 2019
  • She was paralyzed from the waist down for several days.
    — Miami Herald, 10 Sep. 2025
  • He was left partially paralyzed and lost his right eye.
    — Victor Jacobo, CBS News, 17 June 2026
  • No child should be paralyzed by a preventable disease.
    — Dr. Tunji Funsho, Time, 24 Oct. 2025
  • The wasp paralyzes the cicada with a sting and takes it to a burrow.
    — Weldon B. Johnson, azcentral, 18 July 2019
  • Soon, failure to hit your daily goals will sound much worse than any of the noise that used to paralyze you.
    — Kevin Kruse, Forbes.com, 4 Apr. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'paralyze.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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