Blocking or preventing someone or something from passing through or progressing.
From Latin 'obstruere' (to build against, block), combining 'ob-' (against) and 'struere' (to build). The word entered English in the 16th century with both literal and figurative uses.
The root 'struere' also gives us 'construct,' 'structure,' and 'instruct'—showing how Latin thinking saw all these concepts as building; obstruction is literally 'building against' something.
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