- obstacle
- obstacle, obstruction, impediment, bar, snag denote something which seriously hampers action or progress.Obstacle, which is used of both material and immaterial things, applies to an object, condition, or situation which stands in one's way and must be removed or surmounted if one is to progress or attain one's ends{
love seats especially constructed for ardent couples who find such devices as armrests an obstacle to affectionate hips and hands— Green Peyton
}{they smash themselves against the obstacles of circumstance— Cloete
}{as to other social advancement, his record was an obstacle—S. H. Adams
}Obstruction may be used of immaterial things, but such use is often obviously figurative, for the word suggests a blocking of a way or passage{an intestinal obstruction
}{any phrase repeated too often becomes an obstruction to the flow of thought and feeling. It forms a clot— Crothers
}{a very much denser obstruction is in the process of being erected now by literary critics—Day Lewis
}Impediment is applied to something material or immaterial which serves to hinder or delay action or progress until one is freed from it{the refugee's limited knowledge of English was for a long time an impediment to his progress in his profession
}{I have made my way through more impediments than twenty times your stop— Shak.
}{legal restriction is a less effective impediment than the general sentiment that respectable people do not discuss birth control— Petersen
}Bar applies to something interposed, whether by nature or by man, which serves to prevent admission or escape as effectually as the bars of a cage or prison{long sentences are a bar to easy reading— Mott
}Sometimes the word carries a strong suggestion of prohibition, especially when it applies to a law or condition that restrains{under the immigration laws, a criminal record, an infectious disease, and illiteracy are bars to admission to the United States
}{he found his infirmity no bar to his success in his profession
}{must I new bars to my own joy create?— Dryden
}Snag, from its application to a stump of a tree with jagged points which lies hidden under water and proves a hazard to boats, is extended to an obstacle or impediment which is hidden from view and which one encounters suddenly and unexpectedly{might run into a snag on the question of whether federal aid should be extended—PP. H. Lawrence
}Sometimes snag suggests a mere temporary impediment{after an early snag ... he was able to proceed with his work— The Irish Digest
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
