HURDLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does hurdle mean? 

• HURDLE (noun)
  The noun HURDLE has 3 senses:

1. a light movable barrier that competitors must leap over in certain races

2. an obstacle that you are expected to overcome

3. the act of jumping over an obstacle

  Familiarity information: HURDLE used as a noun is uncommon.

• HURDLE (verb)
  The verb HURDLE has 1 sense:

1. jump a hurdle

  Familiarity information: HURDLE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HURDLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A light movable barrier that competitors must leap over in certain races

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("hurdle" is a kind of...):

barrier (a structure or object that impedes free movement)

Derivation:

hurdle (jump a hurdle)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An obstacle that you are expected to overcome

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

the last hurdle before graduation

Hypernyms ("hurdle" is a kind of...):

obstacle; obstruction (something immaterial that stands in the way and must be circumvented or surmounted)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of jumping over an obstacle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

hurdle; vault

Hypernyms ("hurdle" is a kind of...):

jump; jumping (the act of jumping; propelling yourself off the ground)

Derivation:

hurdle (jump a hurdle)

• HURDLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they hurdle    ... he / she / it hurdles   
Past simple: hurdled   
Past participle: hurdled   
-ing form: hurdling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Jump a hurdle

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "hurdle" is one way to...):

overleap; vault (jump across or leap over (an obstacle))

Domain category:

athletics; sport (an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

hurdle (the act of jumping over an obstacle)

hurdle (a light movable barrier that competitors must leap over in certain races)

hurdler (an athlete who runs the hurdles)

hurdling (a footrace in which contestants must negotiate a series of hurdles)

 Context examples 

The scientists note that while several technical hurdles remain, the technique will allow them to analyze the structures of many other proteins, as well as study receptor-drug interactions.

(Structural states of a brain receptor revealed, NIH)

A program created to address roadblocks to research and to transform the way biomedical research is conducted by overcoming specific hurdles or filling defined knowledge gaps.

(NIH Roadmap for Medical Research, NCI Thesaurus)

A team at Houston Methodist Research Institute has been working to overcome the many hurdles to successful cancer treatment by harnessing nanotechnology to deliver drugs directly into cancerous cells.

(Injectable nanoparticles deliver cancer therapy in mice, NIH)

This study suggests that some of the hurdles that stand in the way of exploiting the therapeutic potential of miRNAs could be cleared by instead targeting the gut microbiome.

(New Light on Link between Gut Bacteria, Anxiety, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

On September 30, 2019, Karsten Warholm of Norway won the 400 metres hurdles final at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.

(Norway's Warholm wins gold in 400 m hurdles at World Championships in Doha, Wikinews)

Now, amidst roars of laughter from the crowd and a shower of blows from the beaters-out, they dived madly back, with the ungainly haste of frightened sheep blundering through a gap in their hurdles.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The NIAID researchers and their colleagues hypothesized that administration of BCG by IV or aerosol (AE) routes would overcome this hurdle and thus confer substantially better protection from infection and/or disease in rhesus macaques following challenge with virulent Mtb.

(Changed route of immunization dramatically improves efficacy of TB vaccine, National Institutes of Health)

The lower of the three is Gilchrist, a fine scholar and athlete, plays in the Rugby team and the cricket team for the college, and got his Blue for the hurdles and the long jump.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Her training warned her of peril and of wrong, subtle, mysterious, luring; while her instincts rang clarion-voiced through her being, impelling her to hurdle caste and place and gain to this traveller from another world, to this uncouth young fellow with lacerated hands and a line of raw red caused by the unaccustomed linen at his throat, who, all too evidently, was soiled and tainted by ungracious existence.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Earlier this year, Warholm set a personal best time of 46.92 seconds in the 400 m hurdles, the second-fastest time recorded in the history of the event.

(Norway's Warholm wins gold in 400 m hurdles at World Championships in Doha, Wikinews)