Idiom
have one's hands tied
Meaning
To be powerless to act, to be thwarted.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“I want to help you, but my hands are tied.”
“The manager apologized for the delay, explaining that his hands were tied by the company's strict new budget rules.”
“Although the judge sympathized with the defendant's difficult circumstances, she noted that her hands were tied by the mandatory sentencing laws.”
Examples
simple
“I want to help you, but my hands are tied.”
contextual
“The manager apologized for the delay, explaining that his hands were tied by the company's strict new budget rules.”
complex
“Although the judge sympathized with the defendant's difficult circumstances, she noted that her hands were tied by the mandatory sentencing laws.”
Key words
Related idioms
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