block

[ blok ]

/ blɒk /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for block on Thesaurus.com

noun

a solid mass of wood, stone, etc., usually with one or more flat or approximately flat faces.

a hollow masonry building unit of cement, terracotta, etc.: a wall made of concrete blocks.

one of a set of cube-shaped pieces of wood, plastic, or the like, used as a child's toy in building.

a mold or piece on which something is shaped or kept in shape: a hat block.

a piece of wood used in the art of making woodcuts or wood engravings.

Printing. the base on which a plate is mounted to make it type-high.

a projection left on a squared stone to provide a means of lifting it.

a short length of plank serving as a bridging, as between joists.

a stump or wooden structure on which a condemned person is beheaded: Mary Stuart went bravely to the block.

auction block.

Machinery. a part enclosing one or more freely rotating, grooved pulleys, about which ropes or chains pass to form a hoisting or hauling tackle.

an obstacle, obstruction, or hindrance: His stubbornness is a block to all my efforts.

the state or condition of being obstructed; blockage: The traffic block lasted several hours.

Pathology.

an obstruction, as of a nerve.
heart block.

Sports. a hindering of an opponent's actions.

a quantity, portion, or section taken as a unit or dealt with at one time: a large block of theater tickets.

a small section of a city, town, etc., enclosed by neighboring and intersecting streets: She lives on my block.

the length of one side of such a section: We walked two blocks over.

Chiefly British. a large building divided into separate apartments, offices, shops, etc.

a large number of bonds or shares of stock sold together as a single unit.

Computers.

a group of data stored as a unit on an external storage medium and handled as a unit by the computer for input or output: This file has 20 records per block.
a section of storage locations in a computer allocated to a particular set of instructions or data.
a group of consecutive machine words organized as a unit and guiding a particular computer operation, especially with reference to input and output.
(on a flow chart) a symbol representing an operation, device, or instruction in a computer program.

Railroads. any of the short lengths into which a track is divided for signaling purposes.

Philately. a group of four or more unseparated stamps, not in a strip.

Slang. a person's head.

Glassmaking. a wooden or metal cup for blocking a gather.

an obstruction or stoppage in mental processes or speech, especially when related to stress, emotional conflict, etc.

writer's block.

Geology.

any large, angular mass of solid rock.
fault block.

(in Canada) a wild or remote area of land that has not yet been surveyed: the Peace River block.

Automotive. cylinder block.

Falconry. a low perch to which a falcon is tethered outdoors.

verb (used with object)

to obstruct (someone or something) by placing obstacles in the way (sometimes followed by up): to block one's exit; to block up a passage.

to fit with blocks; mount on a block.

to shape or prepare on or with a block: to block a hat; to block a sweater.

to join (the ends of boards or the like) by fastening to a block of wood.

Theater.

Also block out. to plan or work out the movement of performers in a play, pageant, etc.: Tomorrow we'll block act one.
to draw a floor plan on (a stage) in order to indicate placement of scenery, stage property, etc.

Pathology, Physiology. to stop the passage of impulses in (a nerve).

Computers. to group (contiguous data) together so as to allow to be read or written in a single operation.

Sports. to hinder or bar the actions or movements of (an opposing player), especially legitimately.

Glassmaking.

to shape (a molten gather) in a wet cup of wood or metal.
to plunge a block of wood into (molten glass) to aid in refining the glass.

Metalworking. to give (a forging) a rough form before finishing.

Electronics. to apply a high negative bias to the grid of (a vacuum tube), for reducing the plate current to zero.

verb (used without object)

to act so as to obstruct an opponent, as in football, hockey, and basketball: He doesn't get many baskets, but he sure can block.

Theater. to block a play, act, scene, stage, etc.: The director will block tomorrow.

to suffer a block.

Verb Phrases

block in / out to sketch or outline roughly or generally, without details: She blocked out a color scheme for the interiors.

block out,

block (def. 36a).
Basketball. to box out.

OTHER WORDS FOR block

12 impediment, blockade, barrier, stoppage, jam.

32 close, blockade, impede; hinder, deter, stop.

See synonyms for block on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms about block

put / go on the block, to offer or be offered for sale at auction: to put family heirlooms on the block.

Origin of block

1275–1325; Middle English blok log, stump (<Middle French bloc) <Middle Dutch blok; perhaps akin to balk

OTHER WORDS FROM block

block·a·ble, adjectivere·block, verb (used with object)subblock, nounun·blocked, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH block

bloc, block

Other definitions for block (2 of 2)

Block

[ blok ]

/ blɒk /

noun

Herbert Lawrence Herblock, 1909–2001, U.S. cartoonist.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use block in a sentence

They keep their heads low while running behind a large curtain covering the opening between two housing blocks.
The Brothers Who Ambushed ISIS|Mohammed A. Salih|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Prado was the first name I recognized here since I used to live a few blocks from the Prado museum in Madrid when I was 20.
The Life and Hard Times Of The Family A Cuban Defector Left Behind|Brin-Jonathan Butler|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The path may be there, but current travelers to Sudan face a bureaucratic nightmare of permits and road blocks.
Egypt Ain’t The Only Pyramid Show In Town|Nina Strochlic|December 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I am with a few friends at a pizza spot in D.C., on Mass Ave., just about 10 blocks from the White House.
The Day I Used Eric Garner’s Voice|Joshua DuBois|December 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST

At a Chinese restaurant several blocks away, and out of earshot of the protests, the conversation had carried.
‘They Let Him Off?’ Scenes from NYC in Disbelief|Jacob Siegel|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A colossal steam "traveller" had ceaselessly carried great blocks of stone and long steel girders from point to point.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
The boys were dragging along the banquette a small "express wagon," which they had filled with blocks and sticks.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
The model was first filled with inflammable materials such as shavings and large blocks of wood, over which petroleum was poured.
Asbestos|Robert H. Jones
The upper and lower end blocks have been enlarged in many instances to obtain a better hold on the upper and lower table.
Antonio Stradivari|Horace William Petherick
Round this stood a colony of roughly-built huts, of mud, turf, or large blocks of the slate.
The Daisy Chain|Charlotte Yonge

British Dictionary definitions for block

block

/ (blɒk) /

noun

a large solid piece of wood, stone, or other material with flat rectangular sides, as for use in building

any large solid piece of wood, stone, etc, usually having at least one face fairly flat

such a piece on which particular tasks may be done, as chopping, cutting, or beheading

Also called: building block one of a set of wooden or plastic cubes as a child's toy

a form on which things are shaped or displayeda wig block

slang a person's head (esp in the phrase knock someone's block off)

do one's block Australian and NZ slang to become angry

a dull, unemotional, or hardhearted person

a large building of offices, flats, etc

a group of buildings in a city bounded by intersecting streets on each side
the area or distance between such intersecting streets

Australian and NZ an area of land for a house, farm, etc

Australian and NZ a log, usually a willow, fastened to a timber base and used in a wood-chopping competition

an area of land, esp one to be divided for building or settling

See cylinder block

a piece of wood, metal, or other material having an engraved, cast, or carved design in relief, used either for printing or for stamping book covers, etc
British a letterpress printing plate, esp one mounted type-high on wood or metal

a casing housing one or more freely rotating pulleysSee also block and tackle

on the block mainly US and Canadian up for auction

the act of obstructing or condition of being obstructed, as in sports

an obstruction or hindrance

pathol

interference in the normal physiological functioning of an organ or part
See heart block
See nerve block

psychol a short interruption of perceptual or thought processes

obstruction of an opponent in a sport

a section or quantity, as of tickets or shares, handled or considered as a single unit
(as modifier)a block booking; block voting

a stretch of railway in which only one train may travel at a time
(as modifier)a block signal

an unseparated group of four or more postage stampsCompare strip 1 (def. 3)

a pad of paper

computing a group of words treated as a unit of data on a tape, disk, etc

athletics short for starting block

cricket a mark made near the popping crease by a batsman to indicate his position in relation to the wicket

a chip off the old block informal a person who resembles one of his or her parents in behaviour

verb (mainly tr)

to shape or form (something) into a block

to fit with or mount on a block

to shape by use of a blockto block a hat

(often foll by up) to obstruct (a passage, channel, etc) or prevent or impede the motion or flow of (something or someone) by introducing an obstacleto block the traffic; to block up a pipe

to impede, retard, or prevent (an action, procedure, etc)

to stamp (a title, design, etc) on (a book cover, etc) by means of a block (see sense 12), esp using gold leaf or other foil

(esp of a government or central bank) to limit the use or conversion of assets or currency

(also intr) sport to obstruct or impede movement by (an opponent)

(intr) to suffer a psychological block

to interrupt a physiological function, as by use of an anaesthetic

(also intr) cricket to play (a ball) defensively

Derived forms of block

blocker, noun

Word Origin for block

C14: from Old French bloc, from Dutch blok; related to Old High German bloh

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with block

block

see chip off the old block; knock someone's block off; on the block; stumbling block.

block

OTHER WORDS FOR block

Idioms about block

Origin of block

OTHER WORDS FROM block

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH block

Other definitions for block (2 of 2)

Words related to block

How to use block in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for block

Derived forms of block

Word Origin for block

Other Idioms and Phrases with block