noun, verb, slang ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Something that blocks or obstructs a road.
2. 2
   a barrier set up by police to stop traffic on a street or road in order to catch a fugitive or inspect traffic etc. wordnet
3. 3
   An obstacle or impediment. figuratively

   "to hit roadblocks"

4. 4
   any condition that makes it difficult to make progress or to achieve an objective wordnet

Verb

1. 1
   To prevent, hinder. colloquial, transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms

barrierbarrierarch dambackstopbamboo curtainbank

Example

More examples

"The roadblock is only temporary. It will be removed when the construction is finished."

Etymology

From road + block.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.