barrierbar‧ri‧er /ˈbæriə $ -ər/ ●●○ W3 noun [countable] 
a rule, problem etc that prevents people from doing something, or limits what they can do: 
He advocated the removal of trade barriers.barrier to Problems with childcare remain the biggest barrier to women succeeding at work.barrier between barriers between doctors and patients2a type of fence or gate that prevents people from moving in a particular direction: Crowds burst through the barriers and ran onto the pitch.3a physical object that keeps two areas, people etc apartbarrier between The mountains form a natural barrier between the two countries.4the 10-second/40% etc barrier a level or amount of 10 seconds, 40% etc that is seen as a limit which it is difficult to get beyond: I’m hoping to crash the 20-second barrier in the final and get a bronze. → sound barrier, crash barrierCOLLOCATIONSADJECTIVES/NOUN + barriertrade barriers (=things such as taxes that make trade between countries difficult)· The aim was to remove trade barriers and open up free markets.the language barrier (=the problem of understanding people who do not speak the same language)· Living in China was hard for me at first because of the language barrier.cultural/racial/class barriers· Sport is a sure way to break down racial barriers.social barriers· The Internet allows people of all ages to interact without the usual social barriers.technical/legal/political barriers· Most of the technical barriers have been solved.artificial barriers· They were committed to breaking down the artificial barriers to women’s achievement.regulatory barriers· Regulatory barriers have been an obstacle to international co-operation between police forces.bureaucratic barriers· This is one of many bureaucratic barriers preventing the unemployed from claiming benefit.institutional/organizational barriers· Institutional barriers limit what can be achieved.verbsbreak/tear down barriers· Most companies have broken down the old barriers of status among the workers.cross/transcend barriers (=avoid barriers that usually exist)· Music has the great advantage of crossing cultural barriers.remove/eliminate/lift barriers· Will this remove the barriers to change?overcome barriers· There are still many more barriers that need to be overcome.reduce/lower barriers· We should be reducing barriers to imports from poor countries.erect/build/put up barriers· Some kids have erected emotional barriers that stop them from learning.create barriers· Uniforms are one of the things that create barriers.
WORD ORIGINbarrier
Origin:
1300-1400 Old French barriere, from barre; ➔ BAR1EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- a plexiglas barrier
- Only a flimsy barrier stops the crowd from spilling onto the field.
- The automatic barrier lifted as we drove up.
- The driver slowed down as he approached the police barrier.
- The police put up barriers to hold back the crowds.
- Their attempt to reduce trade barriers failed.
- Baseball has had four black managers since Jackie Robinson broke the sport's racial barrier in 1947.
- Historically, three barriers have slowed the development of international networks.
- Politically and diplomatically, the barriers against their use by a First World country are massive.
- Preoccupation with status itself may be the greatest barrier to intellectual achievement.
- Still, the barriers can be crossed.
- We have begun the job of raising educational standards and breaking down the barriers between the vocational and the academic routes.
THESAURUS
an upright flat structure made of stone or brick, that divides one area from another or surrounds an area: · The estate is surrounded by high stone walls.· a brick wall
a structure made of wood, metal etc that surrounds a piece of land: · The garden was surrounded by an old wooden fence.· the chain link fence around the school
a metal fence that is made of a series of upright bars: · the iron railings in front of the house· The boy was leaning over the railing on the side of the boat.
a type of fence or gate that prevents people from moving in a particular direction: · A guard stood near the barrier.· The police had put up barriers to keep the crowd under control.
a piece of furniture like a thin wall that can be moved around and is used to divide one part of a room from another: · the screen around his hospital bed· a Japanese bamboo screen· a fire screen (=that you put near a fire)
a thin wall that separates one part of a room from another: · The room was divided into two by a thin partition.· The offices are separated by partitions and you can hear everything that is said in the next office.
a line of objects that people have put across a road, to prevent people getting past, especially as part of a protest: · The soldiers used tanks to smash through the barricades.
Longman Language Activatorto prevent someone from going somewhere if someone or something is in the way , they are in a position that stops you from going where you want: · There's a car in the way and I can't get out of the garage.be in somebody's way: · Could you move please Sonia. You're in my way.
if objects or people block a road, entrance etc, they lie or stand right across it, so that no-one can pass through: · A big truck had turned over on its side, and it was blocking the road.· Hundreds of protesters blocked the entrance to the President's palace.
to block or almost block a road, entrance etc: · A small aircraft now obstructed the runway.· The driveway was obstructed by piles of stones and gravel.
something that has been deliberately put somewhere, especially across a road or entrance, to prevent people from entering a place: · The automatic barrier lifted as we drove up.· The driver slowed down as he approached the police barrier.· Only a flimsy barrier stops the crowd from spilling onto the field.
to use military force to prevent people or goods from entering or leaving an area: · In June 1948 the Russians blockaded the western sectors of Berlin.· A US fleet blockaded the port of Veracruz.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRYADJECTIVES/NOUN + barrier The trees formed a dark and impenetrable barrier. The language difference proved an insurmountable barrier. Iona reached the final, but she had to go through the pain barrier to get there.
1 (=things such as taxes that make trade between countries difficult)· The aim was to remove trade barriers and open up free markets.
(=the problem of understanding people who do not speak the same language)· Living in China was hard for me at first because of the language barrier.
· Sport is a sure way to break down racial barriers.
· The Internet allows people of all ages to interact without the usual social barriers.
· Most of the technical barriers have been solved.
· They were committed to breaking down the artificial barriers to women’s achievement.
· Regulatory barriers have been an obstacle to international co-operation between police forces.
· This is one of many bureaucratic barriers preventing the unemployed from claiming benefit.
· Institutional barriers limit what can be achieved.
verbs· Most companies have broken down the old barriers of status among the workers.
(=avoid barriers that usually exist)· Music has the great advantage of crossing cultural barriers.
· Will this remove the barriers to change?
· There are still many more barriers that need to be overcome.
· We should be reducing barriers to imports from poor countries.
· Some kids have erected emotional barriers that stop them from learning.
· Uniforms are one of the things that create barriers.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES The trees formed a dark and impenetrable barrier. The language difference proved an insurmountable barrier. (=the problem of communicating with someone when you do not speak the same language)· Because of the language barrier, it was hard for doctors to give good advice to patients.
Iona reached the final, but she had to go through the pain barrier to get there. (=travel faster than the speed of sound)
British English (=a gate or other barrier at a station that you need a ticket to get through)· John insisted on carrying my case as far as the ticket barrier.
(also barriers to trade formal) (=things that make trade between two countries more difficult or expensive, such as taxes)· The removal of trade barriers will help our trading partnership.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· Perhaps the biggest barrier to economic success was the power of the Unions.· The biggest barrier to entry into the video shopping arena has been the lack of available channels offering variety to customers.· And that put the biggest barrier of all between them.· However, the biggest single barrier remains the memory limitation inherent in chip storage.· Problems with childcare remain the biggest barrier to women succeeding at work.· Their age too, was a bigger barrier than either ever thought.· Such efforts reveal one big barrier for the technology, however: it is not yet clear how the economics will work.
· Language was mentioned by 19% and cultural barriers by 12%.· There are, however, many cultural barriers to be surmounted on the path toward a unified and modernized Sierra Leone.· Higher education reinforced the cultural barriers to economic growth.· Class Size: Cultural barriers can be overcome through close personal interaction.· The link worker can help overcome language and cultural barriers between the doctor or nurse and the patient.· Film is capable of rising above the limitations of language and other cultural barriers.· But in general the world religions kept to themselves, separated by linguistic, cultural and geographical barriers that seemed insuperable.· This could do much to remove many of the cultural and trading barriers to free movement.
· Excessive regulation may also be an effective barrier to entry, thus reducing competition and providing large profits for the incumbents.· Thus, pre-emptive patenting can be a highly effective strategic entry barrier.· Many respondents felt that the most effective barriers to change were the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour of senior management itself.· In the longer term no effective barriers can be devised.· By progressively melting and falling off, an ablative heat shield can form a very effective protective barrier.
· The following section examines in greater detail the barriers to increased takeover activity in the Community.· Preoccupation with status itself may be the greatest barrier to intellectual achievement.· The greatest barrier to full voice operation is the difficulty of achieving voice recognition.· There are splendid views of this great alpine barrier to the south from the twisting road between Urnerboclen and Linthal.
· Moreover, overcapacity reduced margins during the 1980s when the real costs of construction rose, thus creating higher barriers to entry.· There was thought to be a high barrier between hamsters and mice.
· A decade ago this was Checkpoint Charlie, one of the few gaps in an otherwise impenetrable barrier a hundred miles long.· But this normally impenetrable barrier is easily breached by fat-soluble ethanol molecules, which slip through like little ghosts.· Yet some people seem to learn to live with imperfection and others find it an impenetrable barrier.· A rose hedge can become a useful, impenetrable barrier if clipped regularly.· As she rounded the final corner, the trees were in front of her, a dark and impenetrable barrier hiding the house completely.
· Then it seemed that class differences were an insurmountable barrier, but this too was not the only answer.· When it comes to entrepreneurship there are no insurmountable barriers except those we impose on ourselves.· Yet language difficulties have never been insurmountable barriers.· The cost was an insurmountable barrier for many small businesses, and these new business strategies created many side effects.· For a start, sheer distance put a well-nigh insurmountable barrier be-tween me and my peers.· The railroads overcame what, until then, had been insurmountable barriers of time and distance.
· There was always a difficulty in obtaining enough currency, a major barrier to trading with the west.· Adoption of Technology Standards Adoption of standards is a major barrier to the I-way construction.· Berstein reinforced the belief that language and culture were major barriers in attracting working-class adults to education.· Security of on-line payments remains a major barrier to this feature.· If they are allowed automatically to keep them, this becomes a major barrier to new entry.· But research suggests that in many or most countries, male attitudes are not a major barrier to family planning.· A major barrier between human beings and digitally stored information had been lifted.
· There was an invisible, somehow natural, barrier.· This can result from government regulation or from other natural barriers.
· Being a visible physical barrier, the grilles are an excellent deterrent.· These supply constraints are not the usual physical barriers to increased output imposed by the productive potential of the economy.· High status is indicated through inaccessibility, human and physical barriers keeping the rank and file at a distance.· In comparison to the image barriers, the physical barriers are perhaps the more obvious.
· However, many new serums act as a protective barrier and seem to improve hair suppleness, too.· Wooden planters filled with annuals formed a low protective barrier around the perimeter.· As a small child my nose just tipped over the protective barriers.· The Rhode Island company also piled up other protective barriers.· The simplest protective barrier is a geographical one, namely to conduct the training away from other centres of activity within the organisation.· Saunders' body was lying against him as he tried to manoeuvre it against the protective barrier.· Ultracare 3 is quickly absorbed into the skin and forms a protective grease-free barrier.· You poke it up and in before the action begins, thus providing a protective barrier against pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases.
· It is less satisfactory if there is a danger of creating a psychological barrier to doing something positive about getting another job.
· On the field, the racial barriers are coming down.· Qualified academically to serve their people, they can not do so because of racial barriers bristling in their way.· Baseball has had four black managers since Jackie Robinson broke the sport's racial barrier in 1947.
· At the time of his death Campbell was unsuccessfully seeking backers for a jet-driven car to go through the sound barrier.· In 1979, Stanley Barrett broke the sound barrier on land.
· The main areas covered by this negotiating group included anti-dumping, technical barriers to trade and government procurement.· The third stage presents the most difficulty for contested bids, as they create very real technical and structural barriers.· Removal of technical barriers Technical barriers to trade arise from differing national product regulations and standards.· Its formation at a time when moves are well-advanced to remove customs and other technical barriers throughout the Community is well-timed.
NOUN· William Farrell had seen a Renault 25 car parked beside a crash barrier as he drove past.· It came down against the crash barrier.· They blame his death on a faulty motorway crash barrier.· And the family blames a faulty motorway crash barrier.· Now the council is waiting for the car parks firm to solve the crash barrier problem.· Faults were discovered in the mountings on the crash barriers around the top deck of the car park in July.· It ploughed off the motorway, behind the motorway bridge crash barrier, and into the concrete upright.
· Then there is the language barrier.· The lack of communication is emphasized by the language barrier.· Schools unwittingly erect a language barrier which must exclude great numbers of parents.· It has crossed language barriers as easily as it has iron curtains and great walls.· It was true they were very quiet which the Girls thought was a combination of shyness and the language barrier.· There was, first, the language barrier.· Because of the language barrier and culture shock, such insights are far too rare.· Confusion caused by language barriers is the most obvious, but beliefs about proper behavior and courtesy also shift across cultural lines.
· Instead she has developed a strict routine for short haul trips to get her across her pain barrier.· After that, they reckon, they can face any pain barrier.· He clenched his jaw as the pain barrier seemed to break with every passing second.
· In detail barrier reefs consist of whole series of individual reefs and may have small islands on them.· Thus, the fringing reef would be changed into a barrier reef and finally into an atoll if the island subsided completely.· In fact islands with multiple barrier reefs are unknown, although a very few double reefs are known.
· The rich world keeps the South wedded to commodity production by putting up tariff barriers to manufactured goods.· By 1961 internal tariff barriers had been substantially reduced and quota restrictions on industrial products had been largely eliminated.
· Their experts wasted no time in cutting trade barriers, limiting government subsidies and selling off state industries.· The sugar program works by limiting domestic production and erecting trade barriers that keep the price of imported sugar high.· As a non-GATT member its goods generally faced higher tariffs and other trade barriers in world markets.· Running counter to mainstream Republican thinking, he is calling for tariffs and new trade barriers to protect jobs.· This echoed a national unease at lowering complicated inter-provincial trade barriers which would upset thousands of special interest groups throughout the country.· It also prevents the types of trade barriers which provide opportunities for corruption.· Other Andean countries, spotting new opportunities in free trade, have agreed to get rid of most trade barriers by 1992.· Northern governments could help by removing the huge trade barriers that the country still faces.
· We had to staple a polythene vapour barrier to the rafters of a pitched roof.· These were sealed in the same way as the rooflights, with air / vapour barrier material and plenty of butyl tape.· The vapour barrier also served to protect the timber from rainfall during the time that the roof was being constructed.· Cut to size, push between rafters, and conceal behind plasterboard lined with vapour barrier.· A vapour barrier is formed by packaging the salt in foil lined boxes.· Various accessories are available for corner trims. Vapour barrier, sealed at overlaps, is laid on top of ply roof deck.· Profiled insulation panels are laid on top of vapour barrier and then covered with Rockwell sheet.
VERB· However, many new serums act as a protective barrier and seem to improve hair suppleness, too.· The waste form and the cannister should act as barriers for 1000 years each.· You should remember, however, that this can not act as a barrier if you have damp problems.· The salt marshes act as barriers between the sea and land.· They act as a barrier, holding in moisture.· It will act as a barrier to you in putting your own psychological discoveries directly to your reader.· One of them parked across the narrow track leading away from the building; it acted as a barrier.· It is known to act as a barrier to the development of delinquent tendencies, among other things.
· The Dolphin Centre has maintained its usual popularity with attendances again breaking the one million barrier.· Such action breaks down the artificial barriers of opposition between male and female.· Up to half a dozen may break the barrier.· Pablo Ossio, who helped organize the event, said soccer is a great way to break down barriers.· One touch, one thought, one look was enough to break through the flimsy barrier.· Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947.· One way of breaking through the barriers you may have put up to appreciating yourself fully is to play Boast.· John Kennedy broke the barrier against Catholics, Ronald Reagan against the divorced.
· We are building new obstacles and barriers.
· Such expenditures create new barriers to competition and serve to concentrate service industries, just as many manufacturing sectors have experienced.· This restriction creates a barrier for global electronic commerce.· He is concerned with the existence of invisible power within the state, creating a barrier between it and the people.· To begin with, these forces have created the most formidable barrier to animal movement on earth.· What aspects of our ecclesiastical tradition facilitate and what create a barrier to our communication attempts?· Moreover, overcapacity reduced margins during the 1980s when the real costs of construction rose, thus creating higher barriers to entry.· You will remember that consonant sounds are made by creating a brief barrier to the flow of breath.· It is the organs of articulation which are used to create this barrier.
· We had from the outset a desire to cross barriers that had previously existed and to get involved in community groups.· It has crossed language barriers as easily as it has iron curtains and great walls.· It was only fifty-six miles away and yet I crossed so many barriers to arrive and to leave.· Some experts fear the disease may have crossed the barrier between species again.· It was an instructive couple of hours which showed that sport can cross any barriers.· Waiting behind a stream of cars for the railway crossing barriers to be opened the countryside might seem miles away.· He was equally certain they could cross the barrier between gorgio and Romany together.· Freedom for the eye to cross fences and barriers for mile after mile.
· Schools unwittingly erect a language barrier which must exclude great numbers of parents.· The sugar program works by limiting domestic production and erecting trade barriers that keep the price of imported sugar high.· Thus Blacks became a prime source of hostility for white unionists who set about erecting discriminatory barriers.· Work-inhibited children have erected emotional barriers to education and, in response to demands by adults, these barriers become more impenetrable.· Thatcher erect new barrier to monetary unity.· Password Schemes One straight forward security solution, a password scheme, erects a first-level barrier to accidental intrusion.· Other status groups erect less formidable barriers to entry.· Powerful incumbent airlines found three ways to erect strategic entry barriers and consolidate their market power.
· Blake tried to see but the people had formed a barrier preventing him from seeing what was on the ground.· Wooden planters filled with annuals formed a low protective barrier around the perimeter.· The introduction to this book said that the Himalayas have formed an impassable barrier in the distribution of Eastern wildlife.· It achieves this by forming an ice barrier to lessen heat loss from the ground it covers.· Its wooden centre section can be raised and lowered to form a defensive barrier.· Ultracare 3 is quickly absorbed into the skin and forms a protective grease-free barrier.· We would need a large number to hold these off, form a barrier.· They work by forming an invisible barrier to prevent water loss.
· This echoed a national unease at lowering complicated inter-provincial trade barriers which would upset thousands of special interest groups throughout the country.· Crews lowered boom barriers several feet high around the nearby ponds.· This torsion-angle strain would lower the activation-energy barrier for the phosphorylation of His15.· Lowering the cost, yes, but also lowering the barriers that made them hard to use.· After his election in 1984, Leon Febres Cordero lowered import barriers and subsidies, and ran a tight fiscal policy.· Albright will be lowering yet another barrier to the advancement of women in public life.· During phosphorylation, the active-centre torsion-angle strain should facilitate the phosphotransfer reaction by lowering the activation-energy barrier.
· Kellock has since retitled its service Cashflow Finance in an attempt to overcome this barrier.· Each school had to overcome numerous barriers to reform through the collective work of all the faculty.· Elephants elsewhere have been known to overcome both types of barriers that the task force was planning to erect.· They also can help students overcome barriers to success, frustration, and pain, helping them grow to greater self-sufficiency.· Our friendship is a triumph of overcoming every known barrier.· Effective Listening Senders can overcome communication barriers by spending more time listening.· The link worker can help overcome language and cultural barriers between the doctor or nurse and the patient.· People who have overcome extreme barriers deserve a reward and this is the reward I want.
· No one would deny that the barriers which prevent patient access to medicines in the developing world must be broken down.· The environmental coalition also has proposed some type of barrier to prevent further expansion of the underground plume.· Blake tried to see but the people had formed a barrier preventing him from seeing what was on the ground.· But age and language barriers prevent refugees from applying their education to the U.S. labor market.· Fields will be surrounded by barrier strips to prevent phosphate, nitrate, and pesticide pollution of water-courses.· A coating of butter or water soluble barrier film prevents oxidisation and makes subsequent soil removal easier.· It is one of the main barriers preventing the technique from entering the routine microbiological laboratory.· However, even these barriers would hot prevent for ever a corporation determined to maximize its interests.
· And that put the biggest barrier of all between them.· For a start, sheer distance put a well-nigh insurmountable barrier be-tween me and my peers.· The villagers then, seeing they had no defence anywhere, rushed indoors and put up what pathetic barriers they could.· But she put up a barrier around her, and allowed no one to pass.· They argued that some groups can consciously or unconsciously put up barriers to the public discussion of issues.· The rich world keeps the South wedded to commodity production by putting up tariff barriers to manufactured goods.· We put legal and administrative barriers in their way.· Actually, she influenced every decision I ever made but I always felt she put a barrier between us.
· Changing print technology will simply serve to reduce further these barriers to entry, making even lower print runs economically viable.· Telecommunications technology has reduced the traditional barriers of time and distance.· And they should be demanding that the rich world reduce barriers to imports from poor countries by proceeding with further trade liberalization.· There would appear to be scope for institutions and policy makers to reduce barriers to participation particularly for the financially disadvantaged.
· The Government plans to remove the statutory barrier to the formation of partnerships between solicitors and non-solicitors.· Of course, a customs union would spur even more growth if it totally removed barriers even to outsiders.· The theoretical basis for this rests on economic models which predict that there are net welfare gains available from removing these barriers.· From this point of view the struggle to remove barriers could be regarded as the seed bed for human arts.· The government should aim principally to remove barriers between people and economic opportunity.· These benefits are held to stem from three separate but connected effects of removing the barriers to free movement.· Jubilee 2000 remove the barrier of international debt.
a rule, problem etc that prevents people from doing something, or limits what they can do: He advocated the removal of trade barriers.barrier to Problems with childcare remain the biggest barrier to women succeeding at work.barrier between barriers between doctors and patients2a type of fence or gate that prevents people from moving in a particular direction: Crowds burst through the barriers and ran onto the pitch.3a physical object that keeps two areas, people etc apartbarrier between The mountains form a natural barrier between the two countries.4the 10-second/40% etc barrier a level or amount of 10 seconds, 40% etc that is seen as a limit which it is difficult to get beyond: I’m hoping to crash the 20-second barrier in the final and get a bronze. → sound barrier, crash barrierCOLLOCATIONSADJECTIVES/NOUN + barriertrade barriers (=things such as taxes that make trade between countries difficult)· The aim was to remove trade barriers and open up free markets.the language barrier (=the problem of understanding people who do not speak the same language)· Living in China was hard for me at first because of the language barrier.cultural/racial/class barriers· Sport is a sure way to break down racial barriers.social barriers· The Internet allows people of all ages to interact without the usual social barriers.technical/legal/political barriers· Most of the technical barriers have been solved.artificial barriers· They were committed to breaking down the artificial barriers to women’s achievement.regulatory barriers· Regulatory barriers have been an obstacle to international co-operation between police forces.bureaucratic barriers· This is one of many bureaucratic barriers preventing the unemployed from claiming benefit.institutional/organizational barriers· Institutional barriers limit what can be achieved.verbsbreak/tear down barriers· Most companies have broken down the old barriers of status among the workers.cross/transcend barriers (=avoid barriers that usually exist)· Music has the great advantage of crossing cultural barriers.remove/eliminate/lift barriers· Will this remove the barriers to change?overcome barriers· There are still many more barriers that need to be overcome.reduce/lower barriers· We should be reducing barriers to imports from poor countries.erect/build/put up barriers· Some kids have erected emotional barriers that stop them from learning.create barriers· Uniforms are one of the things that create barriers.