barricade
Americannoun
-
barricades
plural
-
a defensive barrier hastily constructed, as in a street, to stop an enemy.
-
any barrier that obstructs passage.
verb (used with object)
-
barricades,
present (3rd person singular)
-
barricaded,
past participle, past
-
barricading
present participle
-
to obstruct or block with a barricade.
barricading the streets to prevent an attack.
-
to shut in and defend with or as if with a barricade.
The rebels had barricaded themselves in the old city.
- Synonyms:
- fortify
noun
verb
-
to erect a barricade across (an entrance, passageway, etc) or at points of access to (a room, district of a town, etc)
they barricaded the door
-
(usually passive) to obstruct; block
his mind was barricaded against new ideas
Synonym Usage
See bar 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
barricadesimple
-
barricadessimple
-
have barricadedperfect
-
has barricadedperfect
-
am barricadingprogressive
-
are barricadingprogressive
-
is barricadingprogressive
-
have been barricadingperfect progressive
-
has been barricadingperfect progressive
Past
-
barricadedsimple
-
had barricadedperfect
-
was barricadingprogressive
-
were barricadingprogressive
-
had been barricadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of barricade
1585–95; < French, equivalent to barrique barrel (< Gascon ) + -ade -ade 1; early barricades in Paris were often composed of barrels
Explanation
A barricade is anything that prevents people or vehicles from getting through. Construction workers often barricade a street to block traffic. You know how barriers block things from getting through? A barricade is similar. Soldiers create barricades to keep enemy troops out. Police officers put up barricades around a crime scene. If an electrical wire becomes loose and dangerous, a barricade around the area will keep people from getting hurt. This can also be a verb, like when parents barricade part of their house to keep toddlers from getting into trouble. Barricading is a physical way of saying "Keep out!"
Vocabulary lists containing barricade
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 7
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Unit 2: Pivotal Words and Phrases
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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.
See Examples For:
A police barricade separated him from Ms. Townsend and other spectators outside his house.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Yoni Finlay, who was hit by a stray police bullet while helping to barricade the doors during the attack, will also speak at the service.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
Brooks has described applying for compensation as torturous, a barricade that is constantly preventing him from being able to move forward.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026
Put differently, law does not begin by asking what the barricade does.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
Its gates lay in ruin; but over the barricade of beams and stones within no enemy as yet had passed.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
In the Indian capital, police—who were deployed starting before dawn—stopped vehicles and pedestrians at yellow metal barricades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Saransh, a university graduate, walked several miles after navigating security barricades to get close to the Jantar Mantar site.
From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026
The Whelford resident said she had noticed an "uneasiness in the air" in the the days leading up to the incident, alongside extra concrete barricades around the airbase.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
They asked visitors to stay outside of the barricades and away from the eroded edge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
The party had all the best qualities of a riot and a night on the barricades.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
On Sunday morning, access to the airbase at the airport, where the mutineers had barricaded themselves in, and to the presidency, were open again, residents said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
A city centre, once so scarred by sectarian violence that it was barricaded off every night, was turned into one big, pedestrianised stage to showcase all its traditions.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Court staff barricaded off the area and guarded it.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Now, Europe’s land borders are nearly all barricaded in imposing fences.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Once, though, she broke her own rule; in need of additional supplies, and reluctant to rise from the catastrophic mess that barricaded her, she asked Eliot to fetch something from the kitchen.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Security was tightened around the Election Commission headquarters on Tuesday, with police barricading roads along the route between parliament and the commission's office.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
On Monday, authorities closed schools and colleges for two days and imposed restrictions on public movement by barricading many arterial roads.
From Barron's ● Mar. 2, 2026
When officers arrived, they detained one suspect immediately, but the second suspect was inside the manhole and refused to come out, barricading himself, said Officer Tony Im, a spokesperson for the Police Department.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2026
Police believe the woman barricading herself is a missing Maryland woman found Tuesday morning.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 29, 2023
On better days, either I’m Elsie’s guinea pig for whatever wild invention she’s working on or she’s barricading the door and helping me practice my magic.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
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.
