blockade

[ blo-keyd ]
/ blɒˈkeɪd /

noun

the isolating, closing off, or surrounding of a place, as a port, harbor, or city, by hostile ships or troops to prevent entrance or exit.
any obstruction of passage or progress: We had difficulty in getting through the blockade of bodyguards.
Pathology. interruption or inhibition of a normal physiological signal, as a nerve impulse or a heart muscle–contraction impulse.

verb (used with object), block·ad·ed, block·ad·ing.

to subject to a blockade.

Origin of blockade

1670–80; block (in the sense “to create obstacles”) + -ade1

synonym study for blockade

1. See siege.

OTHER WORDS FROM blockade

Example sentences from the Web for blockade

British Dictionary definitions for blockade

blockade
/ (blɒˈkeɪd) /

noun

military the interdiction of a nation's sea lines of communications, esp of an individual port by the use of sea power
something that prevents access or progress
med the inhibition of the effect of a hormone or a drug, a transport system, or the action of a nerve by a drug

verb (tr)

to impose a blockade on
to obstruct the way to

Derived forms of blockade

blockader, noun

Word Origin for blockade

C17: from block + -ade, as in ambuscade

Medical definitions for blockade

blockade
[ blŏ-kād ]

n.

Intravenous injection of large amounts of colloidal dyes in which the reaction of the reticuloendothelial cells to other influences is temporarily prevented.
Arrest of nerve impulse transmission at autonomic synaptic junctions, autonomic receptor sites, or myoneural junctions through the action of a drug.