roadblock

American  

[rohd-blok] / ˈroʊdˌblɒk /

noun

• roadblocks
  plural

1. an obstruction placed across a road, especially of barricades or police cars, for halting or hindering traffic, as to facilitate the capture of a pursued car or inspection for safety violations.

2. an obstruction on a road, as a fallen tree or a pile of fallen rocks.

3. a hastily built barricade, as of barbed wire, erected across a road to hold up the advance of an enemy.

4. an action, condition, etc., that obstructs progress toward an objective.

   Nationalism is a roadblock to European unity.

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verb (used with object)

1. to halt or obstruct with or as if with a roadblock.

roadblock British  

/ ˈrəʊdˌblɒk /

noun

1. a barrier set up across a road by the police or military, in order to stop a fugitive, inspect traffic, etc

2. a difficulty or obstacle to progress

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• roadblocks
  plural

Etymology

Origin of roadblock

First recorded in 1935–40; road + block

Explanation

A literal roadblock is a barricade or obstruction that's meant to block traffic. A figurative roadblock is any situation you encounter that makes it difficult or impossible to do what you want or need to do. When a driver encounters a roadblock, she has to stop and go back, or to take a detour and use a different route. This sort of roadblock might be set up to divert cars away from construction or an accident. Other roadblocks are obstructions to progress, like a lawsuit that halts construction on a building or the high cost of something: "The price of converting to a solar water heater was a roadblock to our plans."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

roadblock roadblocks

The housing supply has improved, but rising mortgage rates are now a roadblock for prospective buyers.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

"We hit a roadblock so hard, I think we all had airbag burns," said Steve Moore, who oversaw the FBI's 9/11 investigation in LA.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

He’s 6 feet 1, which some consider a roadblock to playing at the highest level, but it’s Fields’ intangibles that separate him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

That’s because playing on the same defensive line might clear the biggest roadblock that they have faced stopping them from putting up even gaudier numbers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

At the last roadblock a soldier asked me to put my hands on my head so that he could search me.

From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah

But data-center development in general has hit roadblocks thanks to local backlash, an electricity crunch and other factors.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026

Police have imposed a lockdown in Kempton Park in the Ekurhuleni municipality and officers mounted roadblocks after three of the bodies were found this week.

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

While society can put up all the Luddite roadblocks it wants, technology always finds its way around opposition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

Agents who tried to investigate Omar al-Bayoumi encountered other roadblocks.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

There were no police roadblocks, and they made it to Loomis Lake in under an hour.

From "I Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens, 1980" by Lauren Tarshis

Related Words

• barricade
• blockade