stultify

Definition

To stunt, inhibit (progress, ideas, etc.) or make dull and uninteresting, especially through routine that is overly restrictive or limiting.

Etymology

From Latin stultus (“stupid, foolish”), + -ify. Compare Late Latin stultificō.

Example Sentences

• "Bureaucracy and over-regulation have stultified the economy."
• "From the economic point of view, the concentration of future construction into a dozen or so standard classes should be for the good, provided it is not adhered to too rigidly, and allowed to stultify progress in design and further efforts to improve the efficiency of the steam locomotive, which still remains the simplest and most reliable of machines ever invented by man."
• "I for one find the weekly puzzle plenty big enough to satisfy, and, without a good theme, to stultify."

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