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
-
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:
She said it was exciting that filmmakers were starting to take Wales seriously, and that the Welsh language should not be viewed as a barrier.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
A floating barrier was deployed to try and contain the spill.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
This tissue can form a physical barrier that makes it harder for cancer drugs to reach tumor cells.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026
Inexperience has hardly been a barrier for those who want to start their own schools, as we have reported this year.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
It wasn’t until the class erupted in applause that the sound barrier was broken.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
Even as some American manufacturers have benefited as their foreign competitors encounter higher barriers, others struggle with ballooning costs and persistent uncertainty.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
The violence comes amid growing anger over a court ruling requiring the government to remove barriers that had prevented some migrants from applying for asylum.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
Dozens of audio recordings reviewed by the Journal capture tense warnings, language barriers and confusion between the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
“If the population is growing a lot, we may need to think about putting in barriers or wildlife overpasses.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
The act, in effect, abolished poll taxes, literacy tests and other barriers to equal opportunity at the ballot box.
From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman
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.
