stumbling block

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noun

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

Origin of stumbling block

First recorded in 1580–90

Synonyms for stumbling block

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hurdle, barrier, impediment, block, bar.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

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.