hurdle
(hɜːʳdəl )
Word forms: hurdles , hurdling , hurdled
1. countable noun
A hurdle is a problem, difficulty, or part of a process that may prevent you from achieving something.
Two-thirds of candidates fall at this first hurdle and are packed off home.
The weather will be the biggest hurdle so I have to be ready.
Synonyms: obstacle, block, difficulty, barrier
2. countable noun [with singular or plural verb]
Hurdles is a race in which people have to jump over a number of obstacles that are also called hurdles. You can use hurdles to refer to one or more races.
He won the 400m. hurdles.
3. verb [Also VERB preposition]
If you hurdle, you jump over something while you are running.
He crossed the lawn and hurdled the short fence. [VERB noun]
She learnt to hurdle by leaping over bales of hay on her family's farm. [VERB]
Synonyms: overcome, beat, master, conquer
Image of hurdle
© Sashkin, Shutterstock
Collocations:
cross the hurdle final hurdle hurdles remain insurmountable hurdle jump a hurdle legal hurdle logistical hurdle major hurdle numerous hurdles overcome a hurdle potential hurdle regulatory hurdle second hurdle significant hurdle technical hurdle technological hurdle
Students who failed to cross that hurdle could not proceed to the second tier.
Times, Sunday Times
He wasted little time in crossing his hurdles there and should improve on just his third run over timber.
The Sun
Armed with boundless energy and a burning desire to make her own mark in this world, she crosses all hurdles, but fame proves expensive.
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After he appeared to hear a shout from behind him, he attempted to swerve the final hurdle and went crashing through the barriers.
Times, Sunday Times
But the 33-year-old was not allowed to play the game he wanted at the final hurdle.
The Sun
The final hurdle of planning permission has just been cleared.
Times, Sunday Times
These requirements, rather than personal terms, will provide the final hurdle to the deal.
Times, Sunday Times
Had it not been for our desperation not to fall at the final hurdle, we might have lost.
Times, Sunday Times
Nevertheless, experts in the region say that many significant hurdles remain.
Times, Sunday Times
However, significant hurdles remain to be overcome, sources indicated.
Times, Sunday Times
The successful long-term transplant in rabbits may indeed bring his goal closer, but technical and ethical hurdles remain before such a procedure could be considered for humans.
Times, Sunday Times
However, insiders privately admit the hurdles remain huge.
Times, Sunday Times
Several hurdles remain before a catnip-based product could reach the market.
Houston Chronicle
Make a real effort to see it as setback rather than an insurmountable hurdle.
The Sun
He described this as an insurmountable hurdle to the couple's case.
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Affordability of healthcare can be the insurmountable hurdle for some human beings.
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This attitude led to the eventual insurmountable hurdle which the project faced, when the issue arose of the tax treatment which would be necessary for the project to proceed.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Of course, many people jump this hurdle without minding.
Times, Sunday Times
And our completely renewed and re-equipped education system has to jump the hurdle of tackling the question of 'social mobility'.
The Sun
Don't jump this hurdle until, and if, you have to.
Times, Sunday Times
Trying to regain his dignity, he circled around to attempt the jump the hurdle in another lane and fell identically.
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The first day we put him on a horse he jumped a hurdle.
Times, Sunday Times
Five of the nine judges ruled that officers needed a court-approved warrant to get access to the data, setting a higher legal hurdle than had existed under federal law.
Times, Sunday Times
However, this has thrown up complex legal hurdles, involving whether visiting politicians are, in effect, given immunity.
Times, Sunday Times
There are legal hurdles to cross as well.
Times, Sunday Times
Do not get me wrong, lifetime bans are not an irrelevance (although any such proposal would be subject to formidable legal hurdles), but they are far from being a panacea.
Times, Sunday Times
Forest fires, excessive snowfall, angry hunters, financial and legal hurdles at one time or another caused the couple to worry about the long-term viability of the project.
Times,Sunday Times
Trading was set to kick off last week, but logistical hurdles held up the restart.
Times, Sunday Times
For a ground used to staging international cricket, they believe, the logistical hurdles would be far from insurmountable.
Times, Sunday Times
However, the walk was delayed due to substantial logistical hurdles.
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E85 requires additional blending, special pump graphics and labeling, and has numerous other legal and logistical hurdles to overcome.
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Crossing the border was a major hurdle in the journey north.
Smithsonian Insider
The major hurdle was over, but he still had to negotiate diamonds for one loser.
Times, Sunday Times
Two of the others had to overcome one major hurdle before getting together.
The Sun
Having overcome a major hurdle of 'bionic' technology, researchers believe the device could lead to fully functioning replacement limbs linked to the nervous system and controlled by the patient.
Times, Sunday Times
First-time buyers were also reporting better access to mortgage finance, with only 34 per cent of those polled considering it a major hurdle compared with 50 per cent last year.
Times, Sunday Times
There are numerous hurdles to overcome.
Times,Sunday Times
His campaign faces numerous hurdles.
Times, Sunday Times
But there are numerous hurdles the resolution would have to clear before it even came to a vote.
Times, Sunday Times
Numerous hurdles are in evidence in the equestrian runs, which are periodically mowed.
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So she's vowed to overcome that hurdle and grab some glory at the housemates' reunion.
The Sun
However, if investors can overcome the hurdle of understanding investment trusts, they do have significant attractions.
Times, Sunday Times
We have overcome a hurdle that we did not, and that's to compete in the big games.
Times, Sunday Times
You can combine your innate creativity and artistic abilities with a gritty determination to overcome any hurdles.
The Sun
Whatever their background, this year's 100 companies are united by a determination to overcome any hurdles in their path to becoming growth stars.
Times, Sunday Times
The deficit has been cited as one potential hurdle to buyers of the business, along with change of control clauses in the overseas territories.
Times, Sunday Times
Otherwise, the only potential hurdle may be a bat survey!
The Sun
The agreement removes a potential hurdle from any return of the banks into private hands.
The Sun
A fact which created a potential hurdle.
The Sun
Mortgage rates create another potential hurdle.
Houston Chronicle
At the beginning of last week this purchase seemed to have passed its final regulatory hurdle.
Times, Sunday Times
It was the first backed by private equity to have cleared the regulatory hurdle.
Times, Sunday Times
But he did well to lower regulatory hurdles.
Times, Sunday Times
Even if thorny issues such as price, shareholder approval and boardroom egos can be overcome, takeover talks in the sector still face big regulatory hurdles.
Times, Sunday Times
But they note that there would be significant regulatory hurdles surrounding the release of a new organism into the environment to overcome.
Times, Sunday Times
This was only the second hurdle race of his life.
The Sun
Which brings us to the second hurdle: the road.
Times, Sunday Times
The second hurdle could prove the more difficult for some candidates.
Times,Sunday Times
Repeat with the second hurdle, and continue until you have jumped over all five.
Times, Sunday Times
However, he failed to jump the second hurdle cleanly and was unable to recover, finishing the race in 10th place.
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Two options are under study for the power supply, which remains a significant hurdle.
Times, Sunday Times
But if resistance remains a significant hurdle, there are grounds for optimism that it will not always be an insuperable one.
Times, Sunday Times
But this was another significant hurdle along the way.
The Sun
With a deficit of 700 million, the pension scheme, which has 130,000 members, has become a significant hurdle to any rescue deal.
Times, Sunday Times
Orange's commercial policies were described as a 'significant hurdle' for companies seeking to change operators.
Times, Sunday Times
Quite apart from the technical hurdles, which are legion, there are ethical conundrums too.
Times, Sunday Times
Nuclear fusion promises the prospect of abundant carbon-free electricity - if only some epic technical hurdles can be overcome.
Times, Sunday Times
It will take more than nerve to make the attempt a success: the technical hurdles are massive.
Times, Sunday Times
Comparable schemes have proved worthwhile only when the cultural as well as technical hurdles they throw up are surmounted, and in this case they have not been.
Times, Sunday Times
It has become a common boast in recent years as the industry has overcome technical hurdles once thought insurmountable.
Times, Sunday Times
This not only bypasses the technological hurdle of storing lots of information on one robot, but could also allow communication to be much faster.
Times, Sunday Times
There are, of course, enormous technological hurdles still to be overcome.
Times, Sunday Times
Unfortunately, a variety of practical and technological hurdles have prevented large-scale production of these environmentally-friendly biofuels thus far.
Smithsonian Mag
The system did not catch on due to technological hurdles.
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Were a system of government to overcome these political and technological hurdles, it might see faster diffusion of effective e-democracy.
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Translations:
Chinese: 障碍, 跨越奔跑中
Japanese: ハードル, 乗り越える