obstacle

«obstacle» in Mova's school dictionary: Something in your way that stops you or makes it hard to… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (an obstacle, obstacles)

meaning for a pupil

1) Something in your way that stops you or makes it hard to go forward. tree →

2) A problem or difficulty that makes it hard to do something. tree →

sense in the lessons

In PE and sports day: an «obstacle course» with tunnels, hurdles and nets. In road safety: watch out for obstacles like parked cars and bins. In stories and life lessons: the hero overcomes obstacles; «overcome an obstacle», «an obstacle in the way».

examples

• We ran an obstacle course on sports day. tree →
• A fallen tree was an obstacle on the path. tree →
• The horse jumped over every obstacle. tree →
• Not speaking English was an obstacle at first, but she learned fast. tree →
• Robots use sensors to avoid obstacles. tree →
• Clear any obstacles from the stairs so no one trips. tree →
• The hero had to overcome many obstacles. tree →
• 'You thought that love would conquer all obstacles,' said he; 'well, you have found it hasn't! tree →

note

Countable: an obstacle, obstacles («an» because it begins with a vowel sound). Spelling: «obstacle», not «obsticle». Common verbs: «overcome», «avoid», «get past» an obstacle.

In the corpora

• Squirrels are skilled acrobats that solve puzzles to reach bird feeders, and some people build squirrel obstacle courses for fun.
• Sledding stops when it gets dark, because you cannot see obstacles.
• Stop sledding when it gets dark, because you cannot see obstacles.
• Stop sledding when it gets dark, because you cannot see obstacles.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «obstacle» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.