obstacle

UK/ˈɒbstəkəl/US/ˈɑbstəkəl/

nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,219 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: obstacles

An obstacle is something standing in the way of where you want to go. A major obstacle, overcome the obstacle, obstacle course.

It is used figuratively more than literally now — the obstacles are usually rules, money or people. An obstacle course is a physical one built on purpose. The Latin means something standing against, from ob plus stare, to stand.

Definitions of obstacle

1nounobstacleSomething standing in the way.B2
“Lack of money was the biggest obstacle to her going to university.”

obstacle is a hindrance.

Also accepted in games: barrier, hurdle

Where it comes from

Latin obstaculum comes from obstare, to stand against — ob, against, plus stare, to stand.

Latin
obstāculum
Old French
obstacle
Middle English
obstacle
English, today
obstacle

From Middle English obstacle, from Old French obstacle, from Latin obstāculum.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Big Ideas

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obstacle in the wild

In later summer, due to melting, it lies open and can present a very difficult obstacle to mountaineers.
Bergschrund
An obstacle course is a series of challenging physical obstacles an individual, team or animal must navigate, usually while being timed.
Obstacle course
An Air traffic obstacle is a tall structure which can endanger air traffic.
Air traffic obstacle
Air traffic obstacles have to be marked in most cases with red and white colored markings and with aircraft warning lights at night.
Air traffic obstacle
Spartan Race is a series of obstacle races of varying difficulty, ranging from 3 miles to ultra-marathon distances of 50k+.
Spartan Race

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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