barrier
Americannoun
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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
Related Words
See bar 1.
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
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.
But calling logistics “boring” understates the real barrier to scale.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
She says these quick trips are a “low barrier to entry” to international travel because you only have to plan an itinerary for one or two days.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026
While Oracle’s pivot to infrastructure-as-a-service will carry lower margins than the company’s software-as-a-service business, Moerdler noted that Oracle’s differentiated hardware capabilities can create a barrier to entry.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 30, 2026
To achieve this, the researchers applied a small electrical voltage barrier at the exits of the trap.
From Science Daily • Mar. 25, 2026
It was a vivid and frightening image—the drop of a barrier across Europe, a dividing line between free and communist worlds.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
