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blockade Definition

block·ade (blä kād′)

noun

  1. a shutting off of a port or region of a belligerent state by the troops or ships of the enemy in order to prevent passage in or out in time of war
  2. any blocking action designed to isolate another nation and cut off communication and commerce with it
  3. the force that maintains a blockade
  4. any strategic barrier

Etymology: block + -ade

transitive verb -·ad′ed, -·ad′·ing

to subject to a blockade

blockade Related Forms
block·ad′er noun
blockade Idioms

run the blockade

☆

to go past or through a blockade

blockade Synonyms

blockade

n.

barricade, encirclement, bar, siege; see barrier.

run the blockade

break through (a blockade), go past, overcome an obstacle; see penetrate 1.

blockade Usage Examples

Object

  • depot: No threats of national protests or blockaded tanker depots.
  • port: As the Royal Navy has blockaded German ports only the Allies can benefit from this policy.

Converse of object

  • tighten: Four pilots died, sacrificed to the cause of tightening the blockade against Cuba.
  • enforce: We could not enforce the decisive blockade or interruption which is possible from surface vessels.
  • lift: On the 12th May 1949 Stalin admitted defeat and lifted the blockade.

Adjective modifier

  • neuromuscular: It can be used to maintain neuromuscular blockade using an infusion technique.
  • epidural: Epidural catheters can be placed in either the cervical, thoracic or lumbar regions but lumbar epidural blockade is the most commonly used.
  • naval: In the end Kennedy opted to use a naval blockade of Cuba, cutting off military supplies to the island.
  • year-long: A year-long blockade will be something that even Parliament, & the public at large, are unable to ignore.
  • non-violent: On the morning of Sunday June 1st, we will create a non-violent blockade of the G8 delegates in Lausanne.
  • sympathetic: However the more prolonged hypotension seen is probably due to the achievement of a more profound degree of sympathetic blockade.

Modifies a noun

  • runner: Later in the war between March and June 1813, he took ten prizes, mostly blockade runners.

Noun used with modifier

  • androgen: Combined androgen blockade should not be used routinely based on current evidence.
  • receptor: A study of the effects of angiotensin II receptor blockade in heart failure is planned for 1998.
  • gasoline: Or in Blairism's crisis ( gasoline blockade; Peckham youth anarchy; European Union unending conflict; etc, etc )?
  • nerve: Digital nerve blockade is simple and easy to perform and provides useful analgesia for a variety of minor surgical procedures.

Preposition: of

  • refinery: The result was the spontaneous blockade of an oil refinery which led to the blockades of September 2000.
  • port: In November 1997 the French lorry drivers ' blockade of the channel ports was a clear candidate for British TV news treatment.
blockade Quotes

Now, Mr Secretary, if you and your deputy will go back to your offices, the Navy will run the blockade.

—Anderson, Admiral George,Jr