obstruct

English

Etymology

From Latin past participle stem obstruct- (“blocked up”), from verb obstruere, from ob (“against”) + struere (“pile up, build”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /əbˈstɹʌkt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /əbˈstɹɐkt/
• Rhymes: -ʌkt

Verb

obstruct (third-person singular simple present obstructs, present participle obstructing, simple past and past participle obstructed)

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

1. To block or fill (a passage) with obstacles or an obstacle. See synonyms at block.
3. To impede, retard, or interfere with; hinder.

   They obstructed my progress.

4. To get in the way of so as to hide from sight.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:hinder

Derived terms

• deobstruct
• disobstruct
• obstructed
• obstructedly
• obstructer
• obstructive
• obstruct the field
• unobstruct
• unobstructed
• unobstructedly

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *strew- (0 c, 27 e)

Translations

To block or fill (a passage)

Arabic: Egyptian Arabic: سد (sadd) Asturian: entupecer, torgar, tupir, entorgar Bulgarian: запречвам (bg) (zaprečvam), преграждам (bg) (pregraždam) Catalan: obstruir (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 擋住 / 挡住 (zh) (dǎngzhù), 阻擋 / 阻挡 (zh) (zǔdǎng) Czech: ucpat pf, zatarasit (cs) pf, zablokovat (cs) pf Finnish: tukkia (fi) French: obstruer (fr) German: behindern (de), versperren (de) Hawaiian: keʻa, hoʻokeʻa Italian: ostruire (it) Japanese: ふさぐ (ja) (fusagu) Latin: obstō (la), obstruō Maori: whakaapi Portuguese: obstruir (pt), trancar (pt), entupir (pt) Romanian: înfunda (ro), obtura (ro), astupa (ro) Russian: (e.g. view) заслоня́ть (ru) impf (zaslonjátʹ), заслони́ть (ru) pf (zaslonítʹ), (e.g. road) загора́живать (ru) impf (zagoráživatʹ), загороди́ть (ru) pf (zagorodítʹ) Serbo-Croatian: zapriječiti (sh) Sikkimese: བཀག (bkag) Spanish: entorpecer (es), estorbar (es), atorar (es), obstruir (es) Vietnamese: chắn (vi)

To impede, retard, or interfere with

Asturian: tornar (ast), torgar, trabar, impidir Bulgarian: преча (bg) (preča), затруднявам (bg) (zatrudnjavam) Catalan: obstruir (ca) Czech: bránit (cs) impf, překážet (cs) impf Finnish: estää (fi) French: bloquer (fr), retarder (fr), interférer (fr) Hawaiian: keʻa, hoʻokeʻa Irish: cuir isteach ar Italian: ostacolare (it) Korean: 먹통 (meoktong) Latin: obstō (la), officio Maori: whakahōtaetae, kōpeka, whakaapi Portuguese: obstruir (pt) Romanian: bloca (ro), împiedica (ro), întârzia (ro) Russian: препя́тствовать (ru) (prepjátstvovatʹ), меша́ть (ru) (mešátʹ) Serbo-Croatian: ometati (sh) Sikkimese: བཀག (bkag) Spanish: entorpecer (es), impedir (es), estorbar (es) Yiddish: אָבסטרויִרן (obstruirn) (law)

To get in the way of so as to hide from sight

Asturian: desapaecer, esconder, tapar, incultar, ancultar Dutch: zicht belemmeren Finnish: peittää (fi) French: obstruer (fr), éclipser (fr) Italian: ostruire (it) Portuguese: obstruir (pt), ocultar (pt), esconder (pt) Russian: загора́живать (ru) (zagoráživatʹ), заслоня́ть (ru) (zaslonjátʹ) Serbo-Croatian: zakloniti (sh) Spanish: esconder (es), ocultar (es)