Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To retard or obstruct the progress of. synonym: hinder.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To be an obstacle to; stand in the way of; hinder; obstruct.
  • Synonyms To clog, retard, delay, check, fetter, hamper.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To hinder; to stop in progress; to obstruct.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb to get in the way of; to hinder

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb be a hindrance or obstacle to
  • verb block passage through

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin impedīre; see ped- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin impedire ("to shackle"), from pes ("foot") (compare pedestrian). First attested use as a verb was in William Shakespeare's Macbeth.

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