obstacle

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒbstəkəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑbstəkəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ob‧sta‧cle

obstacle (plural obstacles)

1. Something that impedes, stands in the way of, or holds up progress, either physically or figuratively

   A big obstacle to understanding the manual was that it had been poorly translated from the Japanese.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

• impediment
• hindrance
• hurdle
• barrier
• complication
• snag
• See also Thesaurus:hindrance

• Casebolt, costable

Borrowed from Latin obstāculum.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [upsˈta.klə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [opsˈta.klə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [opsˈta.kle]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

obstacle m (plural obstacles)

1. obstacle

• obstaculitzar

• “obstacle”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Borrowed from Latin obstāculum, from obstō.

• IPA^(key): /ɔp.stakl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Hérault)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Saint-Étienne)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

obstacle m (plural obstacles)

1. obstacle

• course d'obstacles
• faire obstacle
• saut d'obstacles

• “obstacle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.