impediment
/ɪmˈpɛdɪm(ə)nt
/noun
1A hindrance or obstruction in doing something: a serious impediment to scientific progress...
- Certainly there was no major legal impediment to multifunctional banking, in which commercial and investment banking are combined.
- But compliance costs are a very major impediment to growth for smaller businesses.
- There should be no greater legal impediment to the movement and trade in one case than in the others.
Synonyms
hindrance, obstruction, obstacle, barrier, bar, handicap, block, check, curb, brake, restraint, restriction, limitation, encumbrance, deterrent;
drawback, setback, difficulty, problem, issue, snag, catch, hitch, stumbling block
informal fly in the ointment, hiccup, facer
British informal spanner in the works
North American informal monkey wrench in the works
rare cumber
2 (also speech impediment) A defect in a person’s speech, such as a lisp or stammer.‘His lisp was a natural speech impediment, but I think [the producers] were concerned over how it would be received,’ he says....
- Is stuttering considered a speech impediment or a learning disability?
- It also brought out that the young Erika had a speech impediment - a stammer that was so bad she had to go to a special school for one year!
Synonyms
speech defect, speech impediment, stammer, stutter, lisp;
hesitancy, faltering
Derivatives
impedimental
/ adjectiveOrigin
Late Middle English: from Latin impedimentum, from impedire (see impede).