impediment
Americannoun
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obstruction; hindrance; obstacle.
- Synonyms:
- check, encumbrance, bar
- Antonyms:
- encouragement, help
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any physical impairment or condition that impedes normal, fluent, or easy speech; a speech disorder.
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Chiefly Ecclesiastical Law. a bar, usually of blood or affinity, to marriage.
a diriment impediment.
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Usually impediments. impedimenta.
noun
-
a hindrance or obstruction
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a physical defect, esp one of speech, such as a stammer
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law an obstruction to the making of a contract, esp a contract of marriage by reason of closeness of blood or affinity
Related Words
See obstacle.
Other Word Forms
- impedimental adjective
- impedimentary adjective
- nonimpedimental adjective
- nonimpedimentary adjective
Etymology
Origin of impediment
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin impedīmentum; impede, -ment
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"I have a speech impediment, I stutter, so for people who feel like they're not the 'typical' host, I want this to feel like a home."
From BBC • Mar. 24, 2026
That could be a serious impediment for Anthropic, whose Claude artificial-intelligence model is widely used by the U.S. military and government contractors.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 5, 2026
Second, expectations are a major impediment to happiness.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026
That raises another potential impediment for state lawmakers hoping to goose the factory-built model: organized labor.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2026
When Tom was nine years old he worried because his pretty little sister Mollie had an impediment in her speech.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
