Obstruct

How to spell obstruct

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce obstruct

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does obstruct mean?

1. verbTo block or get in the way of something, preventing movement, progress, or a clear view.

Obstruct in a sentence

• The parked van will obstruct the entrance to the loading bay.

• Tall hedges obstruct the view of the river from the patio.

Where does obstruct come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Obstruct comes directly from the Latin verb obstruere, which combined ob-, meaning 'against' or 'in the way', with struere, meaning 'to pile up' or 'to build'. The literal image was of heaping up a barrier in someone's path, so that movement was blocked. Its past participle obstructus gave English the form we use today, and the word entered English in the early 1600s as scholars borrowed heavily from Latin. The same struere root sits inside familiar words such as 'structure', 'construct', and 'instruct', all of which involve building or arranging. Remembering that buried 'struct' (as in structure) helps fix the spelling, since the tricky part is keeping that consonant cluster intact.

How the word is built

• ob- (against, in the way)
• struct (from Latin struere: to pile up, build)