obstacle course

American  

noun

1. a military training area having obstacles, as hurdles, ditches, and walls, that must be surmounted or crossed in succession.

2. Informal. an event, situation, course of action, or the like that presents many challenges or difficulties.

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Example Sentences

Advertisements lure patrons to restaurants to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and Easter with buckets of beer and a variety of seafood, and encourage the adventurous to brave a Halloween obstacle course at a Pilates studio.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

Turn right, as the map tells you to do, and you’ll encounter decaying sidewalks, with cracked and buckled concrete that turns a modest uphill walk into an obstacle course.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 25, 2026

But for the 35 residents of Kapisillit, getting to that care is an obstacle course.

From Barron's • Feb. 23, 2026

The first element in the men's and women's sprints sees athletes run uphill with skis on their boots through an obstacle course that includes two sets of diamonds that competitors have to negotiate around.

From BBC • Feb. 19, 2026

I placed his food dish at the end of the obstacle course I’d constructed the day Fig was at the vet.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas