Barrier Meaning
/ˈbæɹi.ə/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA structure that bars passage.
nounAn obstacle or impediment.
Sentence Examples
Show your ticket at the barrier.
Do you think they'll break the 10-second barrier in the 100-meter dash?
High tariffs have become a barrier to international trade.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The tall concrete ____ along the highway prevents animals from crossing onto the road.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The mountain range acts as a natural ____ between the two countries.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English barrer, barrere, barryȝer, from Anglo-Norman barrere (compare French barrière), from barre (“bar”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"America’s poverty line is $63 a day for a family of four. In the richer parts of the emerging world $4 a day is the poverty barrier. But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 ([…]): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short."
— 2013 June 1, “Towards the end of poverty”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 11:
"The downside of normalization is that it erects a defensive barrier between the real world and the perceived i.e. normalized world."
— 2025 April 21, Charles Hugh Smith, What's "Normal" in a Hyper-Normalized World?:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The tall concrete ____ along the highway prevents animals from crossing onto the road.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The mountain range acts as a natural ____ between the two countries.