barricade
Americannoun
-
barricades
plural
-
a defensive barrier hastily constructed, as in a street, to stop an enemy.
-
any barrier that obstructs passage.
verb (used with object)
-
barricades,
present (3rd person singular)
-
barricaded,
past participle, past
-
barricading
present participle
-
to obstruct or block with a barricade.
barricading the streets to prevent an attack.
-
to shut in and defend with or as if with a barricade.
The rebels had barricaded themselves in the old city.
- Synonyms:
- fortify
noun
verb
-
to erect a barricade across (an entrance, passageway, etc) or at points of access to (a room, district of a town, etc)
they barricaded the door
-
(usually passive) to obstruct; block
his mind was barricaded against new ideas
Synonym Usage
See bar 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
barricadesimple
-
barricadessimple
-
have barricadedperfect
-
has barricadedperfect
-
am barricadingprogressive
-
are barricadingprogressive
-
is barricadingprogressive
-
have been barricadingperfect progressive
-
has been barricadingperfect progressive
Past
-
barricadedsimple
-
had barricadedperfect
-
was barricadingprogressive
-
were barricadingprogressive
-
had been barricadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of barricade
1585–95; < French, equivalent to barrique barrel (< Gascon ) + -ade -ade 1; early barricades in Paris were often composed of barrels
Explanation
A barricade is anything that prevents people or vehicles from getting through. Construction workers often barricade a street to block traffic. You know how barriers block things from getting through? A barricade is similar. Soldiers create barricades to keep enemy troops out. Police officers put up barricades around a crime scene. If an electrical wire becomes loose and dangerous, a barricade around the area will keep people from getting hurt. This can also be a verb, like when parents barricade part of their house to keep toddlers from getting into trouble. Barricading is a physical way of saying "Keep out!"
Vocabulary lists containing barricade
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 7
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Unit 2: Pivotal Words and Phrases
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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:
She wasn’t expecting to find herself on the opposite side of a barricade from people she had spent much of her adult life marching alongside.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
A police barricade separated him from Ms. Townsend and other spectators outside his house.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Community police officers and “autodefensas” stand guard at the main barricade of San Ángel Zurumucapio, monitoring people leaving or entering the community.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
In a video which went viral, he commanded an infantry vehicle as it smashed through a makeshift barricade set up by pro-Moscow forces in the southern city of Mariupol.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
He trailed off, and only then did Anya remember the gaping hole behind his cart, and her attempts to barricade it.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
“If travel is required, do not drive around barricades or through water of unknown depth,” the NWS advised.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2026
On Tuesday, the pair jumped security barricades to wave the national flag at Jantar Mantar, a decades-old protest site that police have barred people from using.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
In the Indian capital, police—who were deployed starting before dawn—stopped vehicles and pedestrians at yellow metal barricades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Police say they have denied permission for the gathering and all roads leading to Jantar Mantar, the main protest venue, have been closed with huge metal barricades.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
There were barricades on the main roads leading into the ruins.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
At Rome's occupied Morgagni high school, where students have barricaded entrances with desks, protesters pointed to the crumbling infrastructure as evidence of neglect.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026
This will be the latest in a series of demonstrations in Delhi, with thousands of security forces deployed and roads barricaded in the capital.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
On Sunday, access to the airbase at the airport, where the mutineers had barricaded themselves in, and to the presidency, was once again open, residents said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
By the time deputies arrived, the suspect had barricaded himself inside his home, authorities said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
I wasn’t worried about running into the Sixers, because there was no way they could have barricaded the Second Gate.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Security was tightened around the Election Commission headquarters on Tuesday, with police barricading roads along the route between parliament and the commission's office.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
On Monday, authorities closed schools and colleges for two days and imposed restrictions on public movement by barricading many arterial roads.
From Barron's ● Mar. 2, 2026
When officers arrived, they detained one suspect immediately, but the second suspect was inside the manhole and refused to come out, barricading himself, said Officer Tony Im, a spokesperson for the Police Department.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2026
In 2014, mini-storms of tumbleweeds swamped the drought-stricken prairie of southern Colorado, blocking rural roads and irrigation canals, and briefly barricading homes and an elementary school.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 5, 2024
On better days, either I’m Elsie’s guinea pig for whatever wild invention she’s working on or she’s barricading the door and helping me practice my magic.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
