have one's hands tied
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Be unable to act due to restrictions or limitations
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Không thể hành động do bị giới hạn hoặc hạn chế
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: hands are tied
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The manager had his hands tied by the company's strict policies
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “have one's hands tied” mean?
Be unable to act due to restrictions or limitations Literally: hands are tied
Is “have one's hands tied” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.