barrier
Americannoun
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barriers
plural
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anything built or serving to bar passage, as a railing, fence, or the like.
People may pass through the barrier only when their train is announced.
- Synonyms:
- impediment, hindrance, obstruction, wall, palisade
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any natural bar or obstacle.
a mountain barrier.
- Synonyms:
- impediment, hindrance, obstruction
-
anything that restrains or obstructs progress, access, etc..
a trade barrier.
- Synonyms:
- impediment, hindrance, obstruction
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a limit or boundary of any kind.
the barriers of caste.
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Physical Geography. an Antarctic ice shelf or ice front.
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History/Historical. barriers, the palisade or railing surrounding the ground where tourneys and jousts were carried on.
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Archaic. a fortress or stockade.
noun
-
anything serving to obstruct passage or to maintain separation, such as a fence or gate
-
anything that prevents or obstructs passage, access, or progress
a barrier of distrust
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anything that separates or hinders union
a language barrier
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an exposed offshore sand bar separated from the shore by a lagoon
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( as modifier )
a barrier beach
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(sometimes capital) that part of the Antarctic icecap extending over the sea
Synonym Usage
See bar 1.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of barrier
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Middle French barriere ( barre bar 1 + -iere, from Latin -āria -ary ); replacing Middle English barrere, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin barrera
Explanation
Barriers are walls, either physical or metaphorical. They can block movement — the Great Wall of China was a barrier to block invading forces from entering. A window shade is a light barrier. Failing English is a barrier to getting into Harvard. When people are being excluded from joining a clique, you could say that the clique has erected a social barrier. When fighter jets fly faster than the speed of sound, they break through what feels like a wall in the sky called the sound barrier. The Green Monster at Fenway Park keeps Boston Red Sox fans from being able to watch games from outside the stadium — it's a barrier to sight. But when line drives hit the Green Monster, bouncing the ball back into left field, the Green Monster acts also a barrier to easy home runs.
Vocabulary lists containing barrier
Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)
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25 Words from "Baseball and Black History"
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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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:
That same space in front of the VIP barrier remained empty throughout the festival until the Strokes took the stage around 9:50 p.m.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
That film acts as an additional barrier to heat flow, reducing heat transfer efficiency in much the same way that multiple layers of winter clothing slow the movement of heat away from the body.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
After England dismissed Pakistan for 171 and then moved to 112-2 by the end of the opening day, it seemed likely that their biggest barrier to significant progress on Thursday would be the weather.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Education remains a barrier, with 90% of hires for AI-related jobs having a bachelor’s degree and 20% of hires for AI leadership jobs having a doctorate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
But that night they were back, filling the holes in the bark again and gluing grass to the barrier.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Any solution will have to overcome several barriers.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
Sirens sounded and barriers were raised at the base entrance, according to KEYT, which was also part of the convoy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Polish and German soldiers worked for five weeks at the frontier to dig trenches, lay barbed wire and place long lines of concrete barriers known as "hedgehogs" across the landscape.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
The entry of two rivals suggests barriers to entry into indocyanine green products which UltraGreen.ai manufactures are less prohibitive than previously assumed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
I flatten myself against the ground and creep forward so I’m facing the mountains, peering through openings between the orange plastic barriers.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
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.
