Deliberately creating difficulties or obstacles; hindering progress or normal functioning. Often describes behavior intended to block or delay processes.
From Latin 'obstruere' meaning to build against or block up, combining 'ob-' (against) + 'struere' (to build). The adjective form developed to describe the characteristic of creating barriers.
Obstructive reveals the architectural metaphor in our thinking about opposition - we literally conceive of difficult people as 'builders of barriers,' suggesting that resistance is understood as a form of negative construction.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.