roadblock

Etymology

It is formed from English road + block.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A paving block: 1862, in the abridgments of patents for roads and ways.^[2] The barrier sense follows in 1913, in the Record of Christian Work,^[2] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives the same year for a barricade set up by police.^[5] The OED's revision of 2010 thus antedated the 1940 of its 1989 edition, a date that Etymonline and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate still give.^[2][6][3][7]

Semantic evolution

The common sense, a barrier across a road, became usual in military and police use, and Etymonline still defines it that way, from 1940.^[3] Merriam-Webster describes the military roadblock as a barricade of concrete, logs, sandbags or barbed wire, often with traps or mines, at a point covered by fire.^[5][7] From 1945, originally in the United States, the word was used figuratively for anything that stands in the way of progress.^[2][6] A verb followed: from 1950, again first American, to obstruct or hinder something, and since 1972 to close off a road or a place with roadblocks.^[2]

Timeline

• 1862 – a paving block.^[2]
• 1913 – a barrier across a road.^[2][5] Etymonline gives 1940.^[3]
• 1945 – an obstacle to progress, originally in the United States.^[2][6]
• 1950 – verb, to obstruct or hinder.^[2]
• 1972 – verb, to close off a place or road with a roadblock.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A barricade set up across a road by the police or the army to stop vehicles, catch a fugitive or check traffic: Officers set up a roadblock outside the village.^[8][5][9][7]
2. A military barricade, often with traps or mines, built to hold up an enemy at a point covered by fire.^[5][7]
3. An obstruction in a road, such as fallen rocks or trees or wrecked vehicles.^[5][9][7]
4. Anything that stands in the way of progress; an obstacle.^[8][9][7][2]

Verb

1. To obstruct or hinder something.^[2][5]
2. To close off a road or a place with a roadblock.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin