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View synonyms for barrier

barrier

[ bar-ee-er ]

noun

  1. anything built or serving to bar passage, as a railing, fence, or the like:

    People may pass through the barrier only when their train is announced.

    Synonyms: impediment, hindrance, obstruction, wall, palisade

  2. any natural bar or obstacle:

    a mountain barrier.

    Synonyms: impediment, hindrance, obstruction

  3. anything that restrains or obstructs progress, access, etc.:

    a trade barrier.

    Synonyms: impediment, hindrance, obstruction

  4. a limit or boundary of any kind:

    the barriers of caste.

  5. Physical Geography. an Antarctic ice shelf or ice front.
  6. barriers, History/Historical. the palisade or railing surrounding the ground where tourneys and jousts were carried on.
  7. Archaic. a fortress or stockade.


barrier

/ ˈbærɪə /

noun

  1. anything serving to obstruct passage or to maintain separation, such as a fence or gate
  2. anything that prevents or obstructs passage, access, or progress

    a barrier of distrust

  3. anything that separates or hinders union

    a language barrier

    1. an exposed offshore sand bar separated from the shore by a lagoon
    2. ( as modifier )

      a barrier beach

  4. sometimes capital that part of the Antarctic icecap extending over the sea
“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


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Word History and Origins

Origin of barrier1

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Middle French barriere ( barre bar 1 + -iere, from Latin -āria -ary ); replacing Middle English barrere, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin barrera
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Word History and Origins

Origin of barrier1

C14: from Old French barriere , from barre bar 1
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Synonym Study

See bar 1.
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Example Sentences

Yet faced with language and literacy barriers, immigration fears, or a lack of outreach from local and state governments, some of the most vulnerable communities have become fertile ground for vaccine misinformation, advocates say.

The Maryland General Assembly is poised to create a state-mandated system to compensate people who are wrongly convicted and imprisoned, removing barriers to getting paid that exonerees have faced for decades.

The jargon and acronyms used can confuse even most political observers, let alone those with language barriers.

Our position and framework is the commission should make plans to meet the needs of both sizeable groups and additionally smaller language groups where there is organizing happening to take part, but language will be a barrier.

Instead, it is the lack of accessible or alternative resources that creates a barrier.

I was out, maybe in the Great Barrier Reef catching black marlin.

Like other barrier-breakers before him, Colfer suffered his share of doubters.

Language was no barrier; just about every tongue on the planet was babbling away, caught up in the elaborate mystique of a cult.

It was called, rather dramatically, breaking the sound barrier.

He saw a chain barrier covered with PVC piping that the Jeep had apparently struck and damaged before becoming stuck.

He was fired at by the sepoys, of course, but horse and man escaped untouched and the low barrier was leaped without effort.

But scorn is far more volcanic than glacial and a poor barrier between sex and judgment.

The barrier between them lowered perceptibly again, and Tom felt a momentary return of the confidence he had lost.

The talk between them rarely touched reality, as though a barrier deadened their very voices.

Guilelessly, the old man, in a few words, had swept away the barrier Mary and I had raised between us.

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Barriebarrier beach