Meaning & use
crimp my style
Last updated
Meanings
phraseidiominformal
to stop you from doing what you enjoy or from acting the way you normally do.
Grammar: Used as a whole phrase; the possessive pronoun changes with the person: crimp her style, crimp our style.
Patterns
- crimp someone's style
- not crimp someone's style
Having my parents stay for the weekend really crimped my style.
I don't want a roommate — it would crimp my style.
Go ahead and dance badly; nobody here will crimp your style.
phraseidiominformal
to make an activity less enjoyable or less free than it would otherwise be.
Grammar: Often follows a negative: something won't crimp your style means it won't spoil your fun.
Patterns
- won't crimp someone's style
- something crimps someone's style
The new dress code won't crimp anyone's style if people use common sense.
Rain crimped our style on the first day of the trip, so we stayed inside.
Common combinations
- really crimp someone's style
- The strict rules really crimped his style at the party.
- not crimp someone's style
- A little rain won't crimp my style.
- crimp someone's style a bit
- Sharing a car crimped our style a bit, but we managed.
- afraid of crimping someone's style
- She stayed home because she was afraid of crimping their style.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cramp someone's style
- Very close in meaning and also informal, but it suggests a tighter, more annoying restriction than crimp.
- spoil someone's fun
- More direct and general; it can be used in any register, while crimp my style is casual and idiomatic.
- hold someone back
- Focuses on stopping progress or success rather than spoiling enjoyment.
Opposites
Word family
- crimp verb
- To press or squeeze something into small folds, or (informally) to restrict or spoil something.
Commonly confused: crimp my style or cramp my style?
crimp my style vs cramp my style
A very similar idiom meaning to limit someone's freedom; 'crimp' is a little more informal and less common.
Practice
Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Choose one answer.
The idiom is 'crimp someone's style' and works as a complete verb phrase with an object, as in option B. Option An adds an infinitive that the idiom does not take, option C puts the possessive in the wrong place, and option D uses the wrong preposition and word order.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “crimp my style”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.