Library / English Dictionary

OBSTRUCT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Block passage through

Example:

obstruct the path

Synonyms:

block; close up; impede; jam; obstruct; obturate; occlude

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "obstruct" is one way to...):

hinder; impede (be a hindrance or obstacle to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "obstruct"):

block off; blockade (obstruct access to)

barricade; barricado (block off with barricades)

barricade (prevent access to by barricading)

asphyxiate; choke; stifle; suffocate (impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of)

tie up (restrain from moving or operating normally)

dam; dam up (obstruct with, or as if with, a dam)

block out; screen (prevent from entering)

earth up; land up (block with earth, as after a landslide)

bar; barricade; block; block off; block up; blockade; stop (render unsuitable for passage)

back up; choke; choke off; clog; clog up; congest; foul (become or cause to become obstructed)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Antonym:

free (free or remove obstruction from)

Derivation:

obstructer (any structure that makes progress difficult)

obstruction (the act of obstructing)

obstructive (preventing movement)

obstructor (any structure that makes progress difficult)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Shut out from view or get in the way so as to hide from sight

Example:

The trees obstruct my view of the mountains

Synonyms:

block; obstruct

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "obstruct" is one way to...):

conceal; hide (prevent from being seen or discovered)

Verb group:

bar; barricade; block; block off; block up; blockade; stop (render unsuitable for passage)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of

Example:

His brother blocked him at every turn

Synonyms:

block; blockade; embarrass; hinder; obstruct; stymie; stymy

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "obstruct" is one way to...):

forbid; foreclose; forestall; preclude; prevent (keep from happening or arising; make impossible)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "obstruct"):

stonewall (obstruct or hinder any discussion)

filibuster (obstruct deliberately by delaying)

check (block or impede (a player from the opposing team) in ice hockey)

hang (prevent from reaching a verdict, of a jury)

bottleneck (slow down or impede by creating an obstruction)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

obstructer (someone who systematically obstructs some action that others want to take)

obstruction (the act of obstructing)

obstructor (someone who systematically obstructs some action that others want to take)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The whole of Lucy's behaviour in the affair, and the prosperity which crowned it, therefore, may be held forth as a most encouraging instance of what an earnest, an unceasing attention to self-interest, however its progress may be apparently obstructed, will do in securing every advantage of fortune, with no other sacrifice than that of time and conscience.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

A mass of clotted blood or other formed elements, such as bubbles of air, calcium fragments, etc. brought by the blood from another vessel and forced into a smaller one, thus obstructing the circulation.

(Embolus, NCI Thesaurus)

Let any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way—even by death—and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Early in the morning, before she had risen, he cleared away the snow that obstructed her path to the milk-house, drew water from the well, and brought the wood from the outhouse, where, to his perpetual astonishment, he found his store always replenished by an invisible hand.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)