Impediment definition

ĭm-pĕdə-mənt
impediments
See word origin
Frequency:
Something that impedes; a hindrance or obstruction.
noun
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A hindrance; that which impedes or hinders progress.

Working in a noisy factory left him with a slight hearing impediment.

noun
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1
(law) Something that obstructs the making of a legal contract.
noun
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(chiefly in the plural) Baggage, especially that of an army; impedimenta.
noun
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(now rare) An impeding or being impeded; obstruction.
noun
2
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The definition of an impediment is an obstacle or something that prevents action.

An example of impediment is a rain storm for a ball game.

noun
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2
A physical defect, especially one that interferes with speech.
noun
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A physical defect, especially one that interferes with speech.
noun
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1
Anything that impedes.
  • A speech defect; stutter, lisp, stammer, etc.
  • Anything preventing the making of a legal contract, esp. of a marriage contract.
  • (r.c.ch.) Anything making marriage or ordination invalid or illicit.
noun
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
impediment
Plural:
impediments

Origin of impediment

  • Middle English from Old French from Latin impedīmentum from impedīre to impede impede

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Latin impedimentum.

    From Wiktionary

Impediment Sentence Examples

  • In the north these ranges are low and offer no great impediment to railroad building.

  • The little boy's tongue was tied, causing him to have a speech impediment.

  • The steps were an impediment to the girl on crutches trying to get to class.

  • The cost of research equipment was an impediment to the university's project.

  • Even though Morgan has a slight impediment, she is still confident speaking in front of large groups.

More sentences

Related articles

Words near impediment in the Dictionary