roadblock

noun road·block \ ˈrōd-ˌbläk \

Updated on: 19 Apr 2018

1 a : a barricade often with traps or mines for holding up an enemy at a point on a road covered by fire

b : a road barricade set up especially by law enforcement officers

2 : an obstruction in a road

3 : something that blocks progress or prevents accomplishment of an objective

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roadblock

transitive verb

See roadblock defined for English-language learners

See roadblock defined for kids

Examples of roadblock in a Sentence

That's the one roadblock to the plan.
roadblocks on the path to success

Recent Examples of roadblock from the Web

Privately, many officials grumble that as the city hooks up more customers to its own power supplies, PG&E is throwing up roadblocks out of sheer competition.

— rachel swan, San Francisco Chronicle, "Feinstein keeping mayor’s race at bay, but will meet with Breed," 3 Apr. 2018
In his last three years, King would try to take on all three, and would bump up against a plethora of roadblocks.

— julia felsenthal, Vogue, "HBO’s King in the Wilderness Takes On Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Last Act," 30 Mar. 2018
Though such a move would require Amazon to overcome various regulatory roadblocks, just the idea that the e-commerce giant could move into the pharmacy space was viewed as one of the factors that spurred CVS's merger with Aetna.

— charisse jones, USA TODAY, "Walmart in early talks to buy insurer Humana, report says," 29 Mar. 2018
For years, Silicon Valley seemed almost afraid of having Richard succeed, throwing narrative roadblocks in his way to stop him from becoming an all-powerful CEO and to perhaps maintain dramatic tension.

— david sims, The Atlantic, "Silicon Valley Explores the Darker Side of the Industry," 26 Mar. 2018
The scores of police roadblocks that had littered the streets of Harare were gone; the car-stopping spikes lay piled on traffic islands like the teeth of an enormous fish.

— karan mahajan, The New Republic, "After the Strongman," 26 Mar. 2018
The subsequent reconstruction effort hit an unexpected roadblock: missing landowners.

— The Economist, "A startling amount of land in Japan has no official owner," 15 Mar. 2018
The president has broad authority over tariffs, but some experts believe Congress could throw up roadblocks.

— Bloomberg.com, "Nafta's Dead. Long Live Nafta. A Look at Likely Outcomes," 11 Jan. 2018
The move to parenting wasn't without one of life's roadblocks.

— scott springer, Cincinnati.com, "For Moeller basketball's Jaxson Hayes and Loveland's Jillian Hayes, mama shoots best," 8 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'roadblock.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of roadblock

1913

ROADBLOCK Defined for English Language Learners

roadblock

noun

: a place where police or military officers stop drivers especially in order to examine vehicles
: something that stops progress

Law Dictionary

roadblock

noun road·block

: a road barricade set up by law enforcement officers especially for the purpose of detecting criminal activity

Learn More about roadblock

See words that rhyme with roadblock Spanish Central: Translation of roadblock Nglish: Translation of roadblock for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of roadblock for Arabic speakers

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roadblock

Examples of roadblock in a Sentence

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