hurdle

CEFRB2

/ˈhɜːdl̩/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A frame that runners jump over in a race.

  2. 02

    noun

    A problem or difficulty that must be overcome.

Examples

  • The biggest hurdle for pupils writing the exam was question fourteen.

  • The hurdler didn't clear the final hurdle.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈhɝd(ə)l/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A movable frame of wattled twigs, osiers, or withes and stakes, or sometimes of iron, used for enclosing land, for folding sheep and cattle, for gates, etc.; also, in fortification, used as revetments, and for other purposes.

  2. An obstacle, real or perceived, physical or abstract.

  3. An artificial barrier, variously constructed, over which athletes or horses jump in a race.

More examples

In context

  • He hurdled the bench in his rush to get away.

  • He ran in the 100 metres hurdles.

  • Behind flock'd wrangling up a piteous crew, / Greeted of none, disfeatur'd and forlorn— / Cowards, who were in sloughs interr'd alive: / And round them still the wattled hurdles hung / Wherewith they stamp'd them down, and trod them deep, / To hide their sham...

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The athlete jumped over the last blank and won the race.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

] From Middle English hurdel, hirdel, herdel, hyrdel, from Old English hyrdel (“frame of intertwined twigs used as a temporary barrier”), diminutive of *hyrd, from Proto-Germanic *hurdiz, from Pre-Germanic *kr̥h₂tis, from Proto-Indo-European *kreh₂-. Cognate with Dutch horde, German Hürde.