impediment
Americannoun
-
obstruction; hindrance; obstacle.
- Synonyms:
- check, encumbrance, bar
- Antonyms:
- encouragement, help
-
any physical impairment or condition that impedes normal, fluent, or easy speech; a speech disorder.
-
Chiefly Ecclesiastical Law. a bar, usually of blood or affinity, to marriage.
a diriment impediment.
-
Usually impediments. impedimenta.
noun
-
a hindrance or obstruction
-
a physical defect, esp one of speech, such as a stammer
-
law an obstruction to the making of a contract, esp a contract of marriage by reason of closeness of blood or affinity
Synonym Usage
See obstacle.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of impediment
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin impedīmentum; see impede, -ment
Explanation
An impediment is anything that slows or blocks progress. It can refer to a physical thing, like a fallen tree in the road, or something more intangible, like how your short stature is an impediment to becoming a professional basketball player. See the pedi in there? Pedi means "feet" and hundreds of years ago, the word impediment referred to shackling one's feet. Now its use has broadened considerably. An impediment is something that blocks or impedes your path. There's no end to the things in life that can be considered impediments: a small bank account, a low-paying job, a country's economic malaise — any one of these could be considered an impediment in someone's quest for happiness.
Vocabulary lists containing impediment
"Harrison Bergeron"
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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Othello
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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:
But remember, despair isn’t activism—it’s just another impediment to progress.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
“That makes sense, and there’s no legal impediment to doing that.”
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
"Human consent is not an impediment to progress. Human consent does not diminish the struggles and the joys of technological innovation or inhuman creativity," Blanchett said at the event in the parliament's library.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
“ULA has been an impediment to the Palisades recovery, leaving properties sitting empty and people mired in tax and regulatory hell,” City Councilmember Traci Park, who represents Pacific Palisades, told colleagues before the vote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
Furthermore, once malaria and yellow fever did become transmitted to the Americas by European ship traffic, they emerged as the major impediment to colonization of the New World tropics as well.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
As much as you might want to stay in your home, new impediments can arise.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 12, 2026
“At least the impediments that kept us from retaining recruits, to get them in the academy, that has changed.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026
The EPA also removed "all federal impediments to selling E10," gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol, Zeldin said.
From Barron's ● Mar. 25, 2026
Despite the impediments, AI may yet be key to solving the country’s mental-health crisis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 27, 2025
Not counting Holy Week, Sundays, holy days of obligation, first Fridays, retreats, sacrifices, and cyclical impediments, her effective year was reduced to forty-two days that were spread out through a web of purple crosses.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
