blockade meaning

Noun: blockade  bló'keyd

1. A war measure that isolates some area of importance to the enemy
   - encirclement 
2. Prevents access or progress

Verb: blockade  bló'keyd

1. Hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of
   - obstruct, block, hinder, stymie, stymy, embarrass 
2. Render unsuitable for passage
   - barricade, block, stop, block off, block up, bar 
3. Obstruct access to
   - block off 
4. Impose a blockade on
   - seal off

Derived forms: blockades, blockaded, blockading

Type of: action, beleaguer, besiege, block, circumvent, close up, forbid, foreclose, forestall, hem in, impede, impediment, impedimenta, jam, military action, obstruct, obstructer, obstruction, obstructor, obturate, occlude, preclude, prevent, surround

Encyclopedia: Blockade

[Business]
AmE / noun, verb

■ noun [C]

1

an organized action to stop people or goods from leaving or entering a particular place, often as a form of protest:

Truck drivers have begun a blockade of oil depots to protest against high fuel prices.

❖ to impose/lift a blockade

2

a barrier that stops people or vehicles entering or leaving a place:

The police set up blockades on highways leading out of the city.

■ verb [+ obj]

to physically stop people or goods from leaving or entering a particular place, often as a form of protest:

Farmers have threatened to blockade the supermarket's distribution centres.

[Law]
n. The act of a belligerent power of preventing access to or egress from the ports of its enemy by stationing a ship or squadron in such a position that it can intercept vessels attempting to approach or leave such ports. A neutral merchant vessel trying to break through a blockade is liable to capture and condemnation by the captor's prize court.

[Medicine]
n
1 : interruption of normal physiological function (as transmission of nerve impulses) of a tissue or organ
2 : the process of reducing the phagocytic capabilities of the reticuloendothelial system by loading it with harmless material (as India ink or lampblack) which engages its cells in phagocytosis and prevents them from reacting to new antigenic material —compare BLOCKING ANTIBODY
vt block·ad·ed; block·ad·ing : to subject to blockade

Examples

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1. a tight blockade cut napoleon's supply lines.
2. crowds were gathering behind police blockades.
3. the streamer has been captured in running the blockade.
4. sarit even imposed a blockade on goods to vientiane.
5. the path was blockaded by snow.