stumbling block

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR stumbling block ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an obstacle or hindrance to progress, belief, or understanding.

Origin of stumbling block

First recorded in 1580–90

Synonyms for stumbling block

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR stumbling block ON THESAURUS.COM

hurdle, barrier, impediment, block, bar.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for stumbling block

complication, barrier, handicap, obstacle, setback, snag, difficulty, drawback, hurdle, hindrance, impediment, deterrent, hitch, catch-22, barricade, blockage, catch, clog, delay, discouragement

Examples from the Web for stumbling block

Historical Examples of stumbling block

Do not put any stumbling-block in your path which will make you suffer later on.
The Dream
Emile Zola
Perhaps so; but "the stumbling-block, his speech, who laid it?"
A Dish Of Orts
George MacDonald
Beauty” is, to some persons, as great a stumbling-block as “contrivance.
Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection
Alfred Russel Wallace
To the modern progressive mind the wide sands are a stumbling-block.
A Labrador Doctor
Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
The divorce had been from the beginning, and remained to the end, a stumbling-block to the people.
Henry VIII.
A. F. Pollard

British Dictionary definitions for stumbling block

stumbling block

noun

any impediment or obstacle

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with stumbling block

stumbling block

A hindrance or obstacle, as in His lack of a degree is a real stumbling block to his advancement. This term originally meant “a tree stump over which one trips.” Its figurative use dates from the early 1500s.