- hinder
- hinder vb Hinder, impede, obstruct, block, bar, dam all mean to put obstacles in the way of a person or thing or of his or its action.To hinder is to check or hold back someone or something in action or about to act, move, or start; the term usually stresses harmful or annoying delay or interference with progress{
from your affairs I hinder you too long— Shak.
}{[the artist's] education is . . . hindered rather than helped by the ordinary processes of society which constitute education for the ordinary man— T. S. Eliot
}Sometimes, however, hinder definitely implies prevention{the rain hindered their going
}{machines are sometimes hindered by speed from delivering their best performance— Diehl
}To impede is to impose upon a person or thing that is moving or in action or in progress something that slows him or it up (as by clogging, hampering, or fettering); the term seldom suggests the stopping of movement or progress, but it commonly implies difficulties so great that movement or action are painfully slow or seriously impaired{around their tattooed limbs they often wore coiled brass rings or bands, which in time became so tight that they impeded the circulation— Heiser
}{the teaching of mathematics is . . . impeded by the use of Roman symbols— Grandgent
}{he . . . placed his hand on hers, impeding the rapidity of her embroidery needle— Rose Macaulay
}To obstruct is to hinder free or easy passage; the word implies interference with something in motion or in progress or obstacles in the path or channel{highways obstructed by fallen trees after a storm
}{the tall building obstructed the light from the west
}{the view was obstructed by billboards
}{the restriction of the power of the House of Lords to obstruct legislation— Plummer
}To block (often with up) is to obstruct so effectively as to close all means of egress or ingress and to prevent all passage{shifting sand blocked the entrance to the channel
}{his nose was blocked up by a cold
}{in these wild places ... a snowstorm . . . does not block the King's highways and paralyze traffic as [in] London— Jefferies
}To bar is to block or to prohibit passage, ingress, or egress{a long freight train . . . barred the passage along the road— Anderson
}{that route is barred to steamers— Kipling
}Sometimes the implication of prohibition is so strong that there is no hint of blocking{the law of arms doth bar the use of venomed shot in war— Butler d. 1680
}To dam (often with up) is to obstruct with obstacles that prevent a continued flow (as of water, speech, or emotion) and so provide no outlet or exit{fallen trees dammed up the brook
}{the strait pass was dammed with dead men— Shak.
}{trembling with dammed-up emotion
}Analogous words: *arrest, check, interrupt: *hamper, fetter, clog, trammel, shackle, manacle, hog-tie: *restrain, inhibit, curb, check: baffle, balk, *frustrateAntonyms: furtherhinder adj hind, rear, *posterior, after, backAntonyms: front, fore
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
