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stumbling block

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noun
  1. an obstacle or hindrance to progress, belief, or understanding.
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Origin of stumbling block

First recorded in 1580–90

Synonyms

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hurdle, barrier, impediment, block, bar.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for stumbling block

Historical Examples

  • 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.

  • 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
  1. any impediment or obstacle
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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.

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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.