Dictionary

immobilize en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From French immobiliser, equivalent to immobile + -ize.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To render motionless; to stop moving or stop from moving.
   • This is how Alzheimer's transforms encyclopedians into vegetables, how Parkinson's immobilizes triatheletes. 2012, Rob Benvie, Maintenance:
   • Zinc oxide is biosafe and, therefore, there are no toxic effects for biomedical applications that immobilize and modify biomolecules (Kumar and Shen, 2008). 2011, Sam Zhang, Biological and Biomedical Coatings Handbook: Applications, page 343:
   • It is best to immobilize the injury until a doctor can examine it.
   • Fully autonomous vehicles have raised safety concerns. California enacted a law this year that will, among other things, require manufacturers to continuously monitor every autonomous vehicle on the road and designate a remote human operator to immobilize a vehicle if necessary. 2024 December 25, Elaine S. Povich, “Self-driving cars aren’t here yet, but states are getting the rules ready”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
   • […]two Russian armies would advance into East Prussia, one westward from the Niemen, the other northward from the Narew, with the object of encircling and immobilizing all enemy forces there. 1989, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by H. T. Willetts, August 1914, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 70:
2. (transitive) To render incapable of action.
   • It's clear from these [budget] cuts that the MCAD is virtually immobilized as an effective organization for at least the next year. 1975 December 27, “Editorial”, in Gay Community News, volume 3, number 26, page 4:
3. (transitive) To modify a surface such that things will not stick to it
4. (transitive) To tie up a capital: make a capital investment that makes that capital unavailable.
   • Don't immobilize your capital in aging accounts.

Forms

Antonyms

accelerate · continue · move

Deriveds

reimmobilize

Hypernyms

hinder · cause to desist · decelerate

Hyponyms

pull over

Relateds

immobilizer · desist · immobilization · photoimmobilize

Synonyms

arrest · draw up · freeze (render motionless) · immobilize · halt · stop

Translations (36)

hu rögzít (render motionless) · fi tehdä liikkumattomaksi (render motionless) · gl entalar (render motionless) · mi mātāpou (render motionless) · pl unieruchamiać (render motionless) · ru обездви́живать (render motionless) · sk znehybniť (render motionless) · el ακινητοποιώ (render motionless) · fr immobiliser (render motionless) · pt imobilizar (render motionless) · uk знерухо́млювати (render motionless) · nl immobiliseren (render motionless) · de immobilisieren (render motionless) · fi lamauttaa (render motionless) · fi immobilisoida (render motionless) · nl vastzetten (render motionless) · it immobilizzare (render motionless) · es inmovilizar (render motionless) · sk imobilizovať (render motionless) · be абезрухо́віць (render motionless) · da immobilisere (render motionless) · be імабілізаваць (render motionless) · sk znehybňovať (render motionless) · pms imobilisé (render motionless) · be абезрухо́ўліваць (render motionless) · de unbeweglich machen (render motionless) · uk іммобілізувати (render motionless) · ru обездви́жить (render motionless) · pl unieruchomić (render motionless) · ru иммобилизовать (render motionless) · ro imobiliza (render motionless) · ca immobilitzar (render motionless) · uk знерухо́мити (render motionless) · gl inmobilizar (render motionless) · bg обездвижвам (render motionless) · fi tehdä liikuntakyvyttömäksi (render motionless)