ROADBLOCK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does roadblock mean? 

• ROADBLOCK (noun)
  The noun ROADBLOCK has 2 senses:

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

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.

  Familiarity information: ROADBLOCK used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ROADBLOCK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any condition that makes it difficult to make progress or to achieve an objective

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

barrier; roadblock

Context example:

intolerance is a barrier to understanding

Hypernyms ("roadblock" is a kind of...):

obstacle; obstruction (something immaterial that stands in the way and must be circumvented or surmounted)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "roadblock"):

color barrier (the barrier preventing Blacks from participating in various activities with whites)

ideological barrier (a barrier to cooperation or interaction resulting from conflicting ideologies)

language barrier (barrier to communication resulting from speaking different languages)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A barrier set up by police to stop traffic on a street or road in order to catch a fugitive or inspect traffic etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

barricade; roadblock

Hypernyms ("roadblock" is a kind of...):

barrier (a structure or object that impedes free movement)

 Context examples 

While many applications require increasingly small lasers, researchers continually run into the same roadblock: Nanolasers tend to be much less efficient than their macroscopic counterparts.

(Tiny, biocompatible laser could function inside living tissues, National Science Foundation)

In a new study, Richard Zeebe of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and colleagues offer a way to overcome the roadblock.

(Deep-sea sediments lead to new understanding of solar system, National Science Foundation)

Admittedly, Saturn is known to bring obstacles, so you’ll have to factor those in, but chances are, you will find ways around the occasional roadblocks.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

A program created to address roadblocks to research and to transform the way biomedical research is conducted by overcoming specific hurdles or filling defined knowledge gaps.

(NIH Roadmap for Medical Research, NCI Thesaurus)

In the process of teaching you, he toughened you up, took you out of your comfort zone, and showed you that you were stronger, more resilient, and more resourceful about finding solutions to life’s roadblocks than you ever thought possible.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)