hinder

Syllables: hin·der/ˈhɪndəː//ˈhɪndɚ/

hinder verb: to make difficult to accomplish; to act as an obstacle; to frustrate. Also the comparative form of hind.

Verb

hinder (third-person singular simple present hinders, present participle hindering, simple past and past participle hindered)

(transitive) To make difficult to accomplish; to act as an obstacle; to frustrate.
- A drought hinders the growth of plants.
- We doubt not of a faire and luckie Warre, / Since God ſo graciouſly hath brought to light / This dangerous Treaſon, lurking in our way, / To hinder our beginnings.1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
Synonyms:

delay, frustrate, hamper, impede, obstruct, prevent, thwart

Antonyms:

further, assist, expedite, facilitate, help
(ambitransitive) To delay or impede; to keep back, to prevent.
- She hindered a man from committing suicide.
- Then let me goe, and hinder not my courſe: [...]c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
Synonyms:

bar, block, delay, hamper, impede, obstruct, restrain, stop

Antonyms:

aid, assist, help
(obsolete, transitive) To cause harm.
- If me and a certain character met, the guy that invented the cigarette, I'd murder that son of a gun in the first degree. Now it ain't 'cause that I don't smoke myself and I don't reckon they hinder your health. I've smoked them all my life and I ain't dead yet.1947, Merle Travis, Tex Williams, “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)”

Adjective

UK/ˈhaɪ̯n.dəː/US/ˈhaɪ̯n.dɚ/

hinder (not comparable)

Of or belonging to that part or end which is in the rear or hind, or which follows.
- the hinder end of a wagon
- the hinder parts of a horse
Synonyms:

back, hind, rear, posterior

Antonyms:

front, fore

Noun

UK/ˈhaɪ̯n.dəː/US/ˈhaɪ̯n.dɚ/

hinder (plural hinders)

(euphemistic, slang) The buttocks.
- Like martial arts, in-line skating is predicated on the notion that sooner or later you're going to end up on your hinder.1997, Richard Laliberte, Stephen C. George, The Men's Health Guide to Peak Conditioning, →ISBN, page 195

Proper noun capitalized: Hinder

Hinder

A surname.

Also used as

hinder is also the comparative form of hind.

hinder meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Arabic

hinder in Hindi

to keep back; to delay or impede: रोकना roknā

hinder in Tamil

to make difficult to accomplish: தடு taṭu

hinder in Urdu

to keep back; to delay or impede: روکنا roknā

hinder in Arabic

to make difficult to accomplish: عَاقَ ʕāqa, عَرْقَلَ ʕarqala, مَنَعَ manaʕa
to keep back; to delay or impede: عَاقَ ʕāqa, عَرْقَلَ ʕarqala
of or belonging to that part in the rear: خَلْفِيّ ḵalfiyy
slang: buttocks: رِدْف ridf, عَجِيزَة ʕajīza

More languagesFewer languages

hinder in Persian: دشوار کردن došvâr kardan, بازداشتن
hinder in Thai: กีดขวาง gèet-kwăang, กีด gèet, หยุดยั้ง yòot yáng, ส่วนหลัง sùan lăng
hinder in Vietnamese: cả trở, cản trở

Examples of hinder in a sentence

Arsenal were playing without a recognised full-back – their defence comprising four centre-halves – and the lack of width was hindering their progress.2011 December 10, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 1 – 0 Everton”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 05 Dec 2018:
He may give his folk some scrapings of unhallowed pleasure, but he will exact tithes, yea, of anise and cummin, in return, and there is aye the reckoning to pay at the hinder end.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
On a line dividing the front two-thirds from the hinder one-third, and set in the shape of a V, is a row of seven to twelve large flat-topped circumvallate papillae, […]1990, C. W. H. Havard, editor, Black's Medical Dictionary, 36th edition, page 673:

All 40 example sentences with hinder

Synonyms of hinder

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

1 more antonymsFewer antonyms

nurture

All synonyms and antonyms of hinder

Forms of hinder

Verb
third-person singular present	hinders
present participle	hindering
past participle	hindered
past	hindered
alternative form (archaic)	hindre
Noun
plural	hinders

Past tense of hinder: hindered

Origin of hinder

From Middle English hindren, from Old English hindrian, from Proto-Germanic *hindrōną, *hinderōną (“to hinder”), from Proto-Germanic *hinder (“back”) (adverb). Cognate with Dutch hinderen and German hindern, Latin contra (“back, against”).

Inherited from Middle English hinder, comparative form of hind: more hind.

Words formed from hinder

Words that rhyme with hinder

Questions about hinder

What does hinder mean?: Hinder means to make difficult to accomplish; to act as an obstacle; to frustrate.
What is hinder in Hindi?: Hinder in Hindi is रोकना (roknā). See Hinder meaning in Hindi.
How do you use hinder in a sentence?: Arsenal were playing without a recognised full-back – their defence comprising four centre-halves – and the lack of width was hindering their progress.
What part of speech is hinder?: Hinder can be a verb, an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce hinder?: Hinder is pronounced /ˈhɪndəː/ (UK).
What is the past tense of hinder?: The past tense of hinder is hindered.

Words near hinder in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: hinder (page history and authors); Hinder (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hinder.wav, en-au-hinder.ogg, en-us-hinder.ogg.

Cite this entry: “hinder.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hinder. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.