blocking
Americannoun
noun
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electronics the interruption of anode current in a valve because of the application of a high negative voltage to the grid
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internal congestion in a communication system that prevents the transmission of information
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of blocking
Explanation
When you obstruct someone from seeing or doing something, that's blocking. In most sports, blocking your opponent is a huge part of playing the game. Blocking the player who's trying to make a basket is one kind of blocking. There's also blocking a street for the neighborhood block party, or blocking your ex-friend on social media. In each case, you're cutting off access in some way. In theater, the word takes on a different meaning, "the staging of actors." This use stems from the 19th-century theater, when directors would frequently use wooden blocks to plan out the actors' positions on a miniature stage.
Vocabulary lists containing blocking
Academic and Literary Vocabulary, Unit 2
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Academic Vocabulary and Literary Terms, Unit 5
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The Black Girl Survives in This One
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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.
Palmer recalls one play, in the CIF semifinals against Orange Lutheran, when he put Mosley at the point of attack to block and he drove one defender into two others, “single-handedly blocking three guys.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
A California court previously granted parental rights to Ahmed and Gilkar, while a Texas court issued a restraining order blocking West from seeing the baby.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
A day before that incident, hundreds of masked protesters massed in Dover, further east, briefly blocking access to the town's busy Channel port to demonstrate against migrant crossings.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
These mixtures were far more effective at blocking the harmful effects of venom than the individual proteins alone.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026
Monday, we began hauling out the dead wood blocking trails or where he wanted to spray vermicast, which I learned is worm poop—gross.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
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.
