barrier

See also: Barrier

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

barrier

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English barryer, barrere, barryȝer, from Old French barriere (compare French barrière), from Old French barre (“bar”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbæɹi.ə(ɹ)/
• (US, without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈbæɹi.ɚ/
• (US, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛɹi.ɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æɹiə(ɹ)

Noun

barrier (plural barriers)

1. A structure that bars passage.

   The bus went through a railway barrier and was hit by a train.

   The bomber had passed through one checkpoint before blowing himself up at a second barrier.

2. An obstacle or impediment.

   Even a small fee can be a barrier for some students.

   • 2013 June 1, “Towards the end of poverty”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8838, page 11:

     America’s poverty line is $63 a day for a family of four. In the richer parts of the emerging world $4 a day is the poverty barrier. But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 ([…]): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.

3. A boundary or limit.

   Few marathon runners break the three-hour time barrier.

   • 2025 April 21, Charles Hugh Smith, What's "Normal" in a Hyper-Normalized World?‎:

     The downside of normalization is that it erects a defensive barrier between the real world and the perceived i.e. normalized world.

4. (grammar) A node (in government and binding theory) said to intervene between other nodes A and B if it is a potential governor for B, c-commands B, and does not c-command A.
5. (physiology) A separation between two areas of the body where specialized cells allow the entry of certain substances but prevent the entry of others.
6. (historical) The lists in a tournament.
7. (historical, in the plural) A martial exercise of the 15th and 16th centuries.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:hindrance

Derived terms

• acoustic barrier
• allobarrier
• automatic half-barrier level crossing
• barrier board
• barrier cream
• barrier island
• barrierless
• barrierlike
• barrier method
• barrier nursing
• barrier reef
• barrier ridge
• barrier rogue
• barrier to entry
• barrier to trade
• barrier troops
• barristor
• biobarrier
• blood-brain barrier
• boom barrier
• color barrier
• Coulomb barrier
• crash barrier
• crowd control barrier
• crush barrier
• cyberbarrier
• death barrier
• diffusion-barrier
• Einstein barrier
• Great Barrier Island
• Great Barrier Reef
• half-barrier
• heat barrier
• hematoencephalic barrier
• ice barrier
• immunobarrier
• Jersey barrier
• jersey barrier
• language barrier
• light barrier
• memory barrier
• metabarrier
• multibarrier
• nanobarrier
• New Jersey barrier
• noise barrier
• non-tariff barrier
• police barrier
• racial barrier
• Schottky barrier
• security barrier
• sonic barrier
• sound barrier
• species barrier
• subbarrier
• superbarrier
• tariff barrier
• ticket barrier
• tilt barrier
• time barrier
• tire barrier, tyre barrier
• toll barrier
• trade barrier
• traffic barrier
• underbarrier
• vapor barrier
• Weismann barrier

Translations

structure that bars passage

Afrikaans: versperring Arabic: حَاجِز m (ḥājiz) Armenian: պատնեշ (hy) (patneš) Belarusian: бар'ер m (barʺjer), шлагба́ум m (šlahbáum) (on level crossings) Bulgarian: барие́ра (bg) f (bariéra) Catalan: barrera (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 障 (zh) (zhàng), 柵欄 / 栅栏 (zh) (zhàlán) Czech: bariéra (cs) f Danish: barriere c, afspærring c Dutch: barrière (nl) c, versperring (nl) f, slagboom (nl) m Egyptian: (sbḫt f) Esperanto: barilo (eo) Estonian: barjäär, (on level crossings) tõkkepuu Finnish: aita (fi), este (fi) French: barrière (fr) f Galician: barreira (gl) f Georgian: ბარიერი (barieri) German: Sperre (de) f, Schranke (de) f, (on level crossings) Schlagbaum (de) m, Barriere (de) f, Absperrung (de) f Greek: φράγμα (el) n (frágma) Hebrew: מַחְסוֹם (he) m (makhsóm) Hungarian: sorompó (hu), csapórúd Ido: barilo (io) Irish: fál m Italian: barriera (it) f Japanese: 障壁 (ja) (しょうへき, shōheki) Korean: 장벽(障壁) (ko) (jangbyeok) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: berbest (ku) Macedonian: барие́ра f (bariéra) Norwegian: Bokmål: sperring m or f, bom (no) m (level crossing) Nynorsk: sperring f, bom m (level crossing) Polish: bariera (pl) f, barierka (pl) f Portuguese: barreira (pt) f Romanian: barieră (ro) f Russian: барье́р (ru) m (barʹjér), (on level crossings) шлагба́ум (ru) m (šlagbáum) Scottish Gaelic: (on level crossings) bacadh m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: барије́ра f Roman: barijéra (sh) f Spanish: barrera (es) f Swahili: kizuizi (sw) Swedish: bom (sv) c, barriär (sv) c, spärr (sv) c Tarifit: afray m Ukrainian: бар'є́р (uk) m (barʺjér), шлагба́ум m (šlahbáum) (on level crossings) Walloon: bårire (wa) f, håjhe (wa) f, håjhea (wa) m

obstacle or impediment

Afrikaans: hindernis Arabic: عَقَبَة f (ʕaqaba), حَاجِز m (ḥājiz) Armenian: արգելք (hy) (argelkʻ) Azerbaijani: sədd Belarusian: бар'е́р m (barʺjér), перашко́да f (pjeraškóda), перапо́на f (pjerapóna), перагаро́да f (pjeraharóda) Bulgarian: прегра́да (bg) f (pregráda), препя́тствие (bg) n (prepjátstvie), барие́ра (bg) f (bariéra) Chinese: Mandarin: 障 (zh) (zhàng), 障礙 / 障碍 (zh) (zhàng'ài) Czech: bariéra (cs) f, překážka (cs) f Danish: barriere c, forhindring c Dutch: barrière (nl) c Esperanto: baro, barilo (eo) Estonian: barjäär, tõke Finnish: este (fi) French: barrière (fr) f Galician: barreira (gl) f German: Barriere (de) f, Hindernis (de) n, Hürde (de) f Greek: φράγμα (el) n (frágma) Hindi: बाधा (hi) f (bādhā), रुकावट f (rukāvaṭ) Hungarian: akadály (hu) Ido: barilo (io) Italian: barriera (it) f Japanese: 障害 (ja) (しょうがい, shōgai) Kazakh: кедергі (kedergı) Korean: 장애(障礙) (ko) (jang'ae) Macedonian: барие́ра f (bariéra), пречка f (prečka), препрека f (prepreka) Mongolian: Cyrillic: саад (mn) (saad) Persian: مانع (fa) (mâne'), سد (fa) (sadd) Plautdietsch: Hindaniss n Polish: bariera (pl) f, przeszkoda (pl) f Portuguese: obstáculo (pt) Romanian: barieră (ro) f Russian: барье́р (ru) m (barʹjér), препя́тствие (ru) n (prepjátstvije), прегра́да (ru) f (pregráda) Scottish Gaelic: bacadh m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: пре̏града f, пре̏прека f, пре̏пона f Roman: prȅgrada (sh) f, prȅpreka (sh) f, prȅpona (sh) f Slovak: bariéra f, prekážka f Slovene: pregrada f, ovira (sl) f Spanish: barrera (es) f Swahili: kizuizi (sw) Tajik: монеа (tg) (monea), садд (sadd) Ukrainian: бар'є́р (uk) m (barʺjér), перешко́да f (pereškóda), перепо́на f (perepóna) Vietnamese: chướng ngại (vi) Walloon: aroke (wa) f, xhame el voye m

boundary or limit

Belarusian: лімі́т m (limít), мяжа́ f (mjažá) Bulgarian: гра́ница (bg) f (gránica), преде́л (bg) m (predél) Chinese: Mandarin: 障 (zh) (zhàng), 邊界 / 边界 (zh) (biānjiè) Czech: bariéra (cs) f Danish: grænse (da) c Estonian: piir (et) Finnish: raja (fi) French: limite (fr) m, frontière (fr) f German: Grenze (de) f Hebrew: מַחְסוֹם (he) m (makhsóm) Italian: limite (it) m Polish: bariera (pl) f Portuguese: limite (pt) m Russian: преде́л (ru) m (predél), грани́ца (ru) f (graníca), лими́т (ru) m (limít) Spanish: límite (es) m Swahili: kizuizi (sw) Swedish: gräns (sv) c Ukrainian: лімі́т m (limít), межа́ f (mežá) Walloon: limotche (wa) f, frontire (wa) f

Verb

barrier (third-person singular simple present barriers, present participle barriering, simple past and past participle barriered)

1. (transitive) To block or obstruct with a barrier.

   Synonym: bar