impediment
noun
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Impediment comes from a Latin verb that meant "to interfere with" or "to get in the way of progress", as if by tripping up the feet of someone walking. In English, impediment still suggests an obstruction or obstacle along a path; for example, a lack of adequate roads and bridges would be called an impediment to economic development. Impediments usually get in the way of something we want. So we may speak of an impediment to communication, marriage, or progress--but something that slows the progress of aging, disease, or decay is rarely called an impediment.
Synonyms
Examples of impediment in a Sentence
Veronica Fulton, NBC News, 5 Nov. 2024
Any employer then would need to overcome other impediments before being allowed to hire them in America.
—Stuart Anderson, Forbes, 3 Nov. 2024
His agency’s principal role on November 5th is to, with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, run an Election Day dashboard that will share information about any impediments to voting, from road accidents to intentional violence.
—Eliza Griswold, The New Yorker, 31 Oct. 2024
The process only went smoothly for the one once named Smaug but renamed the Tyrant at Team Leader 2’s insistence, the harness no impediment.
—Jeff Vandermeer, WIRED, 22 Oct. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Impediment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impediment. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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impediment
noun
Medical Definition
impediment
noun
Legal Definition
impediment
noun
Penalber v. Blount, 550 So. 2d 577 (1989)
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