obstructive

obstructive

English

Etymology

    From obstruct + -ive.

    Pronunciation

    • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əbˈstɹʌk.tɪv/
    • (General American) IPA(key): /əbˈstɹʌk.tɪv/, /ɑbˈstɹʌk.tɪv/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)

    Adjective

    obstructive (comparative more obstructive, superlative most obstructive)

    1. Causing obstructions.
      I wanted to see his report on me, but my manager was being obstructive.
      • 1911, James George Frazer, chapter V, in Taboo and the Perils of the Soul (The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion; II), third edition, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, page 310:
        The obstructive tendency attributed to the knot in spiritual matters appears in a Swiss superstition that if, in sewing a corpse into its shroud, you make a knot on the thread, it will hinder the soul of the deceased on its passage to eternity.

    Derived terms

    Translations

    Noun

    obstructive (plural obstructives)

    1. One who obstructs something.