stultify
Make seem foolish
To stultify is to make something or someone seem foolish, ineffective, or absurd.
Laws can stultify innovation; bureaucracy can stultify initiative.
The word often describes conditions that render effort pointless: Years of rigid hierarchy had stultified creative thinking.
A person stultified by routine becomes dulled or frustrated.
The adjective stultifying emphasizes the deadening effect: a stultifying corporate culture.
Make feeble or frail
- weakenReduce in strength
- debilitateTo make weak
- enervateTo drain of strength
- sapPlant circulatory fluid
undercut · erode · atrophy · wither · emasculate · devitalize · impair · cripple
Suppress or restrain
- smotherDeprive of air
- squelchForcibly silence or suppress
- quashSuppress or nullify
- repressHold back forcibly
dampen · muzzle · silence · extinguish · deaden · dull · blunt · numb
Prevent success of
- hamperObstruct or clothes basket
- hinderObstruct or delay
- obstructBlock or hinder passage
- blockSolid mass, or impede
impede · frustrate · foil · retard · encumber · handicap · hobble · cripple
Make null or void
negate · undo · counteract · obviate · defeat · neutralize · efface · abolish
Wearisome dullness
- monotonyTiresome lack of change
- ennuiWeary, listless dissatisfaction
- dullnessLack of stimulation
- drearinessState of dispiriting dullness
listlessness · languor · lethargy · stupor · torpor · apathy · flatness · sameness
Wildly illogical
- ridiculousInviting scorn through absurdity
- ludicrousAbsurdly unreasonable or inappropriate
- nonsensicalWithout coherent meaning
- preposterousCompletely contrary to reason
asinine · fatuous · inane · idiotic · imbecilic · moronic · brainless · senseless
enfeeble
Make feeble or frail
- weakenReduce in strength
- debilitateTo make weak
- enervateTo drain of strength
sap · undercut · erode · atrophy · wither · emasculate · devitalize · impair · cripple · neutralize
stifle
Suppress or restrain
repress · dampen · muzzle · silence · extinguish · deaden · dull · blunt · numb · throttle
thwart
Prevent success of
block · impede · frustrate · foil · retard · encumber · handicap · hobble · cripple · paralyze
invalidate
Make null or void
cancel · negate · undo · counteract · obviate · defeat · neutralize · efface · abolish · quash
tedium
Wearisome dullness
dreariness · listlessness · languor · lethargy · stupor · torpor · apathy · flatness · sameness · stagnation
absurd
Wildly illogical
- ridiculousInviting scorn through absurdity
- ludicrousAbsurdly unreasonable or inappropriate
- nonsensicalWithout coherent meaning
preposterous · asinine · fatuous · inane · idiotic · imbecilic · moronic · brainless · senseless · foolhardy
stultifyvalidate
Confirm as true
prove · substantiate · vindicate · legitimize · corroborate