obstacle course
Americannoun
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a military training area having obstacles, as hurdles, ditches, and walls, that must be surmounted or crossed in succession.
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Informal. an event, situation, course of action, or the like that presents many challenges or difficulties.
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.
None of these are true gaming machines, but I still enjoyed playing the “Obby But You’re On a Bike” obstacle course and the space exploration-gone-wrong adventure “Beyond the Dark.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 14, 2026
But for the 35 residents of Kapisillit, getting to that care is an obstacle course.
From Barron's • Feb. 23, 2026
Your RMDs are a years-long tax-related obstacle course.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 18, 2025
Sir Ed kicked off his party's campaign in typically zany fashion in Oxfordshire, where he was given a lesson in hobbyhorsing and ran through an obstacle course.
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2025
I swing my stump over the side of the tub and stand straddling the curb, trying to figure out the next step of this obstacle course.
From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen
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.
