Use the verb paralyze to describe something that makes it impossible to move or function, like a snowstorm that threatens to paralyze a city.
Accent the first syllable in paralyze: "PA-ruh-lies." Until 1805, the only way to paralyze someone was physically — the word was used to indicate that a person had lost the ability to move his body, often as a result of an accident, disease, or condition. More recently, the definition has widened to include figurative uses like being "paralyzed by fear." It doesn't mean you are immobilized, just that you were so sacred, it felt that way.
