Synonyms:
| bar, | bulwark, | obstruction, | rampart, |
| barricade, | hindrance, | parapet, | restraint, |
| breastwork, | obstacle, | prohibition, | restriction. |
A bar is something that is or may be firmly fixed, ordinarily with intent to prevent entrance or egress; as, the bars of a prison cell; the bars of a wood-lot. A barrier obstructs, but is not necessarily impassable. Barrier is used of objects more extensive than those to which bar is ordinarily applied. A mountain range may be a barrier to exploration; but a mass of sand across the entrance to a harbor is called a bar. Discovered falsehood is a bar to confidence. Barricade has become practically a technical name for an improvised street fortification, and, unless in some way modified, is usually so understood. A parapet is a low or breast-high wall, as about the edge of a roof, terrace, etc., especially, in military use, such a wall for the protection of troops; a rampart is the embankment surrounding a fort, on which the parapet is raised; the word rampart is often used as including the parapet. Bulwark is a general word for any defensive wall or rampart; its only technical use at present is in nautical language, where it signifies the raised side of a ship above the upper deck, topped by the rail. Compare [BOUNDARY]; [IMPEDIMENT].
Antonyms:
| admittance, | opening, | road, | transit, |
| entrance, | passage, | thoroughfare, | way. |
Prepositions:
A barrier to progress, against invasion; a barrier between nations.