roadblock
Americannoun
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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.
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an obstruction on a road, as a fallen tree or a pile of fallen rocks.
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a hastily built barricade, as of barbed wire, erected across a road to hold up the advance of an enemy.
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an action, condition, etc., that obstructs progress toward an objective.
Nationalism is a roadblock to European unity.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a barrier set up across a road by the police or military, in order to stop a fugitive, inspect traffic, etc
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a difficulty or obstacle to progress
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of roadblock
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
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 there’s no constitutional roadblock to anti-vote-betting laws, and they can serve some salutary purposes.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
Police Commissioner Ahmed Sanusi accused the men of abandoning their official posts to set up the unauthorised roadblock.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Travel ball begins in June, and that’s the big roadblock for softball, with many coaches and players participating.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
The company cleared a major roadblock to its IPO earlier this week, when it won a legal fight with its co-founder turned Altman foe Elon Musk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
Let us examine the roadblock and the various unspoken assumptions that buttress it.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
When makeshift roadblocks appeared, Minneapolis urged residents to stop erecting them, citing the need for emergency access, fire response, and roadways open for all.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
However, they added the incident remained live and roadblocks would remain in place until the firefighting operation was completed.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
The couple faced some other roadblocks along the way.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
The measure also authorizes security forces to clear roadblocks that had caused severe food, medical and fuel shortages in several cities.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
In January 1997, Bayona advised Farmer that if they wanted to get around the political roadblocks in Peru, they had to go to higher authorities.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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.
