impediment Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress
balk; handicap; baulk; check; hindrance; deterrent; hinderance.
noun any structure that makes progress difficult
impedimenta; obstruction; obstructor; obstructer.

L. impedimentum: cf. F. impediment.

That which impedes or hinders progress, motion, activity, or effect.
Thus far into the bowels of the land Have we marched on without impediment. Shak.
Syn. -- Hindrance; obstruction; obstacle; difficulty; incumbrance. -- Impediment, Obstacle, Difficulty, Hindrance. An impediment literally strikes against our feet, checking our progress, and we remove it. An obstacle rises before us in our path, and we surmount or remove it. A difficulty sets before us something hard to be done, and we encounter it and overcome it. A hindrance holds us back for a time, but we break away from it.
The eloquence of Demosthenes was to Philip of Macedon, a difficulty to be met with his best recources, ant obstacle to his own ambition, and an impedimen in his political career. C. J. Smith.