How to Use obstacle in a Sentence

obstacle

noun
  • She swerved to avoid an obstacle in the road.
  • He overcame the obstacles of poverty and neglect.
  • They must overcome a number of obstacles before the restaurant can be opened.
  • Lack of experience is a major obstacle for her opponent.
  • But over in the kitchen, the chef runs into some obstacles.
    — Jp Mangalindan, Peoplemag, 24 Oct. 2023
  • The challenge is that the obstacles to these ideas are as old as the ideas themselves.
    — Patrick Kingsley, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2025
  • One obstacle is often in the way, though — and that’s the fear of injury.
    — New York Times, 16 Feb. 2022
  • In his telling, this was the biggest obstacle the thieves faced.
    — Christopher F. Schuetze, New York Times, 16 May 2023
  • This was an enormous obstacle in the case against Jim Lewis.
    — Chicago Tribune, 13 Oct. 2022
  • Faced with that obstacle, the Marines will not even try to fight their way into the theater.
    — John F. Schmitt, National Review, 2 Apr. 2022
  • One of those obstacles is, as the title suggests, a curse.
    — Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 10 Nov. 2023
  • And one of the best ways to serve them is to remove obstacles to performance.
    — Ron Alvesteffer, Forbes, 7 Oct. 2024
  • The new train – the first nonstop service on the route – has had to overcome some hefty obstacles.
    — Caolán Magee, CNN, 20 Mar. 2023
  • Some of the obstacles seem to emerge from the most conventional rom-com tropes.
    — Esther Zuckerman, New York Times, 26 Nov. 2023
  • Despite the obstacles, Works remained on the dean’s list all four years.
    — Adria Watson, BostonGlobe.com, 31 May 2023
  • The book guides women on ways to get around workplace obstacles on the way to getting ahead.
    — Fortune Editors, Fortune, 7 Dec. 2023
  • From the viewpoint of many of his White classmates, Moore’s race was not an obstacle.
    — Sydney Trent, Washington Post, 2 Nov. 2022
  • Name the obstacle and its impact on you in neutral terms.
    — Karla L. Miller, Washington Post, 3 Nov. 2022
  • There are no obstacles to work around except for the slopes of the natural bent grass course.
    — Tanya Wildt, Detroit Free Press, 18 May 2024
  • There is a path to preventing such a wrong turn, even if the path is strewn with obstacles and is uphill all the way.
    — Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 17 Jan. 2025
  • The script’s conflicts and obstacles get their tidy share of the available 90 minutes.
    — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 24 Sep. 2024
  • Here are some of the obstacles that stand in the way: High-tech research overshadows old-school field work.
    — Caroline Chen, ProPublica, 23 May 2023
  • By the early 1950s, though, the nuclear taboo was already in place — an obstacle to Ike's plans to force an end to the war.
    — Joel Mathis, The Week, 12 Oct. 2022
  • The Cowboys have a chance to win their first road playoff game since the 1992 season, but a major obstacle is in the way.
    — Dallas News, 16 Jan. 2023
  • But none of those wins came against Red Rock, the team Pima knew was its biggest obstacle in the way of a repeat.
    — Theo MacKie, The Arizona Republic, 26 Feb. 2022
  • Not that Steichen’s dwelling on any of those obstacles.
    — The Indianapolis Star, 4 Jan. 2024
  • And yes, teenagers in love often find ways around obstacles.
    — Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
  • The Jackets also now trail the Rangers and Red Wings in the standings, giving them two more obstacles.
    — Aaron Portzline, New York Times, 6 Apr. 2025
  • Slowing down will make tackling obstacles both easier and safer, while giving you time to enjoy the experience.
    — Wes Siler, Outside Online, 25 May 2025
  • One obstacle to deciphering khipus is a lack of firm dates for them; knowing which ones were made prior to the Spanish conquest is especially important.
    — Sam Kean, The Atlantic, 26 May 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'obstacle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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