Adjacent Words

Barrier definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BAR'RIER. [See bar]
1. In fortification, a kind of fence made in a passage or retrenchment, composed of great stakes, with transums or overthwart rafters, to stop an enemy.
2. A wall for defense.
3. A fortress or fortified town on the frontier of a country.
4. Any obstruction; any thing which confines, or which hinders approach,or attack; as constitutional barriers.
5. A bar to mark the limits of a place; any limit, or boundary; a line of separation.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a structure or object that impedes free movement
2: any condition that makes it difficult to make progress or to achieve an objective; "intolerance is a barrier to understanding" [syn: barrier, roadblock]
3: anything serving to maintain separation by obstructing vision or access

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English barrere, from Anglo-French, from barre bar Date: 14th century 1. a. something material that blocks or is intended to block passage <highway barriers> <a barrier contraceptive> b. a natural formation or structure that prevents or hinders movement or action <geographic barriers to species dissemination> <barrier beaches> <drugs that cross the placental barrier> 2. plural, often capitalized a medieval war game in which combatants fight on foot with a fence or railing between them 3. something immaterial that impedes or separates ; obstacle <behavioral barriers> <trade barriers>

U.S. Military Dictionary

A coordinated series of obstacles designed or employed to channel, direct, restrict, delay, or stop the movement of an opposing force and to impose additional losses in personnel, time, and equipment on the opposing force. Barriers can exist naturally, be man-made, or a combination of both. (JP 3-15)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a fence or other obstacle that bars advance or access. 2 an obstacle or circumstance that keeps people or things apart, or prevents communication (class barriers; a language barrier). 3 anything that prevents progress or success. 4 a gate at a car park, railway station, etc., that controls access. 5 colloq. = sound barrier. Phrases and idioms: barrier cream a cream used to protect the skin from damage or infection. barrier reef a coral reef separated from the shore by a broad deep channel. Etymology: ME f. AF barrere, OF barriere

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Barrier Bar"ri*er, n. [OE. barrere, barere, F. barri[`e]re, fr. barre bar. See Bar, n.] 1. (Fort.) A carpentry obstruction, stockade, or other obstacle made in a passage in order to stop an enemy. 2. A fortress or fortified town, on the frontier of a country, commanding an avenue of approach. 3. pl. A fence or railing to mark the limits of a place, or to keep back a crowd. No sooner were the barriers opened, than he paced into the lists. --Sir W. Scott. 4. An any obstruction; anything which hinders approach or attack. ``Constitutional barriers.'' --Hopkinson. 5. Any limit or boundary; a line of separation. 'Twixt that [instinct] and reason, what a nice barrier ! --Pope. Barrier gate, a heavy gate to close the opening through a barrier. Barrier reef, a form of coral reef which runs in the general direction of the shore, and incloses a lagoon channel more or less extensive. To fight at barriers, to fight with a barrier between, as a martial exercise. [Obs.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(barriers) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A barrier is something such as a rule, law, or policy that makes it difficult or impossible for something to happen or be achieved. Duties and taxes are the most obvious barrier to free trade. = obstacle N-COUNT: oft N to/against/between n 2. A barrier is a problem that prevents two people or groups from agreeing, communicating, or working with each other. There is no reason why love shouldn't cross the age barrier... When you get involved in sports and athletes, a lot of the racial barriers are broken down. N-COUNT: oft supp N, N between pl-n 3. A barrier is something such as a fence or wall that is put in place to prevent people from moving easily from one area to another. The demonstrators broke through heavy police barriers... As each woman reached the barrier one of the men glanced at her papers. N-COUNT 4. A barrier is an object or layer that physically prevents something from moving from one place to another. ...a severe storm, which destroyed a natural barrier between the house and the lake... The packaging must provide an effective barrier to prevent contamination of the product. N-COUNT: usu with supp 5. You can refer to a particular number or amount as a barrier when you think it is significant, because it is difficult or unusual to go above it. They are fearful that unemployment will soon break the barrier of three million... N-SING: the N, with supp 6. see also crash barrier, sound barrier

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Obstruction, obstacle, hindrance, bar, barricade, stop, impediment.

Moby Thesaurus

abatis, advanced work, arch dam, backstop, balistraria, balustrade, bamboo curtain, bank, banquette, bar, barbed-wire entanglement, barbican, barrage, barricade, bartizan, bastion, battlement, bear-trap dam, beaver dam, blank wall, blind alley, blind gut, block, blockade, blockage, bolt, boom, bottleneck, boundary, brattice, breakwater, breastwork, brick wall, buffer, buffer state, bulkhead, bulwark, bumper, casemate, cecum, cheval-de-frise, choking, choking off, circumvallation, clog, cloison, cofferdam, collision mat, congestion, constipation, contravallation, costiveness, counterscarp, cul-de-sac, curtain, cushion, dam, dead end, defense, demibastion, diaphragm, dike, dissepiment, ditch, dividing line, dividing wall, division, drawbridge, earthwork, embankment, embolism, embolus, enclosure, entanglement, escarp, escarpment, fence, fender, fieldwork, fortalice, fortification, frontier, gate, glacis, gorge, gravity dam, groin, ha-ha, hindrance, hydraulic-fill dam, impasse, impediment, infarct, infarction, interseptum, iron curtain, jam, jetty, leaping weir, levee, limit, lock, logjam, loophole, lunette, machicolation, mantelet, mat, merlon, midriff, midsection, milldam, moat, mole, mound, obstacle, obstipation, obstruction, outwork, pad, padlock, palisade, panel, parados, parapet, paries, partition, party wall, portcullis, postern gate, property line, rail, railing, rampart, ravelin, redan, redoubt, roadblock, rock-fill dam, sally port, scarp, sconce, sealing off, seawall, separation, septulum, septum, shock pad, shutter dam, stockade, stone wall, stop, stoppage, strangulation, tenaille, vallation, vallum, wall, weir, wicket dam, work