Etymologically
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obstruction

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /əbˈstɹʌk.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin obstructiō (“barrier, a building up”),[2][3][4][5][6] a noun of action from obstructus, the past participle of obstruō (“to build up, block, hinder”).[2][3][7][8] The verb is formed from ob- (“in front of, in the way of”) and struō (“to pile, build”),[3][2] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *streu-, an extended form of *stere- (“to spread”).[3] In post-classical Latin the noun also meant a blockage (4th century) and the action of blocking or impeding, literally and figuratively (6th century).[2] The OED compares Middle French obstruction, recorded in a medical sense from 1538.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of blocking an opening or passage, or the condition of being blocked: 1533, in More's Apologye.[2][7] Etymonline likewise dates the noun to the 1530s.[3]

Semantic evolution

The noun is older in English than the verb obstruct, which is first recorded in 1578,[2] and Etymonline allows that the verb may be a back-formation from it.[3] From the start the word had a medical use, the blocking of a passage in the body;[2][4] Johnson (1755) defined it "in physick" as the blocking up of a canal so that a fluid cannot flow through it.[9] Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (before 1616) has "This does make some obstruction in the blood, this cross-gartering", and the same play has the first records of the sense "impeding the movement of a person or thing" and of the figurative "a thing that stands in the way".[2][4] A thing that blocks a passage, literally, is recorded from 1604, in the Journals of the House of Commons.[2] Etymonline dates the figurative use to the 1650s,[3] and the OED records the hindering of an activity or proceeding from 1656.[2] The word was then applied to deliberately delaying the business of a legislature by procedural tactics,[7][10][11] and in the 20th century it gained legal senses, above all the offence of hindering a police officer in the course of duty (1908),[2][12] and a sporting one, the unfair impeding of a player (1923).[2][10] In poetry cold obstruction meant death or rigor mortis,[4] and Merriam-Webster records "death" as an obsolete sense.[7]

Timeline

  • 1533 – the action of blocking a passage; the condition of being blocked.[2][7]
  • 1578 – the verb obstruct is first recorded.[2]
  • 1604 – something that blocks a passage; an obstacle.[2]
  • before 1616 – the impeding of the movement of a person or thing; figuratively, a hindrance, in Shakespeare.[2]
  • 1656 – the hindering of an activity or proceeding.[2]
  • 1755 – Johnson defines it as hindrance, obstacle, and in medicine the blocking of a canal of the body.[9]
  • 1908 – in law, interference with a right of way, and the hindering of a police officer.[2]
  • 1923 – in sport, the illegal impeding of a player.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Something that blocks a way or passage, or that stands in the way of progress; an obstacle or hindrance: A fallen tree was the only obstruction on the trail.[11][10][4][2]
  2. The act of obstructing, or the condition of being obstructed.[7][11][10]
  3. (medicine) A blockage of a passage in the body, especially of the intestine.[7][4][2]
  4. The deliberate delaying of business in a legislature by procedural tactics; compare filibuster.[7][10][11]
  5. (law) The offence of hindering a police officer or other official in the course of duty; also in obstruction of justice.[2][12]
  6. (sports) The unfair or illegal impeding of an opposing player.[7][10][2]
  7. (obsolete) death; in poetry, cold obstruction, death or rigor mortis.[7][4]

Word family

  • obstructionism
  • obstructionist
  • obstruction of justice

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  12. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West