hurdle

Syllables: hurd·leUK/ˈhɜːdl̩//ˈhɝd(ə)l/

hurdle noun: an artificial barrier, variously constructed, over which athletes or horses jump in a race. Also the misspelling of hurtle.

Image: Santeri Viinamäki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

hurdle (plural hurdles)

An artificial barrier, variously constructed, over which athletes or horses jump in a race.
- He ran in the 100 metres hurdles.
(figuratively) An obstacle, real or perceived, physical or abstract.
- My last stop was an outdoor speech to a huge crowd of Ukrainians whom I urged to stay on the course of freedom and economic reform. Kiev was beautiful in the late spring sunshine, and I hoped its people could keep up the high spirits I had observed in the crowd. They still had many hurdles to clear.2005, Bill Clinton, My Life, volume II, New York: Vintage Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 588
A movable frame of wattled twigs, osiers, or withes and stakes, or sometimes of iron, used for enclosing land, for folding sheep and cattle, for gates, etc.; also, in fortification, used as revetments, and for other purposes.
- The practice of folding sheep was general, and the purchase of hurdles was a regular charge in the shepherd's account.1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 414
(UK, historical) A sled or crate on which criminals were drawn to the place of execution.
- In treason, the corporal punishment is by drawing on hurdle from the place of the prison to the place of execution, and by hanging and being cut down alive, bowelling, and quartering: and in women by burning.1550, Francis Bacon, “A Preparation Toward the Union of Laws”, in James Spedding, Robert Leslie Ellis, Douglas Denon Heath, editors, The Works of Francis Bacon, volume VII, London: Longman, Green &...
- Such a crew! Ah! many a wretch has rid on hurdles who has done less mischief than these utterers of forged Tales, coiners of Scandal, and clippers of Reputation.1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, II.i
A piece that is jumped over by a hopper piece.
- Pieces that can move only by hopping over other pieces are termed Hoppers. It should be noted that hoppers capture in the usual way by eviction, they do not capture the hurdles over which they hop.
  The most popular hoppers are: The Equihopper (G. Leathem FCR 1938) which hops to the same distance...2010 August 21, G. P. Jelliss, “Simple Chess Variants”, in Mayhematics, page 10

Verb

hurdle (third-person singular simple present hurdles, present participle hurdling, simple past and past participle hurdled)

To jump over something while running.
- He hurdled the bench in his rush to get away.
To compete in the track and field events of hurdles (e.g. high hurdles).
To overcome an obstacle.
To hedge, cover, make, or enclose with hurdles.
- Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve
  In hurdled cotes amid the field secure1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker...
To jump over another piece without capturing it.
- Kangaroo (KA): as G, but hurdles over any two units to land on the first square beyond the second unit (the two units need not be adjacent). […] Saltador (SA): can move without capturing to the same squares as an S, whenever either of the intermediate squares is occupied (by hurdling); can capture...2018 July, Stephen Emmerson, “A GLOSSARY OF FAIRY CHESS DEFINITIONS”, in BRITISH CHESS PROBLEM SOCIETY, pages 8, 10

Proper noun capitalized: Hurdle

Hurdle (plural Hurdles)

A surname.

Also used as

hurdle is also the misspelling of hurtle.

hurdle meaning in Arabic, Persian, Thai and Vietnamese

hurdle in Arabic

artificial barrier over which people or horses jump in a race: حَاجِز ḥājiz
obstacle: عَقَبَة ʕaqaba, حَاجِز ḥājiz
movable frame of wattled twigs: حَاجِز ḥājiz

hurdle in Persian

artificial barrier over which people or horses jump in a race: مانع mâne'
obstacle: مانع mâne'

hurdle in Vietnamese

artificial barrier over which people or horses jump in a race: cừu

Examples of hurdle in a sentence

Despite a stumble, he managed to come fourth in the hurdles.
The leaping horse easily cleared the hurdles.
The tired horse eventually got up and over the hurdle.

All 34 example sentences with hurdle

Forms of hurdle

Noun
plural	hurdles
Verb
third-person singular present	hurdles
present participle	hurdling
past participle	hurdled
past	hurdled
Proper noun
plural	Hurdles

Plural of hurdle: hurdles

Origin of hurdle

] From Middle English hurdel, hirdel, herdel, hyrdel, from Old English hyrdel (“frame of intertwined twigs used as a temporary barrier”), diminutive of *hyrd, from Proto-Germanic *hurdiz, from Pre-Germanic *kr̥h₂tis, from Proto-Indo-European *kreh₂-. Cognate with Dutch horde, German Hürde.

Words formed from hurdle

Phrases with hurdle

Words that rhyme with hurdle

Questions about hurdle

What does hurdle mean?: Hurdle means an artificial barrier, variously constructed, over which athletes or horses jump in a race.
What is hurdle in Arabic?: Hurdle in Arabic is حَاجِز (ḥājiz), عَقَبَة (ʕaqaba). See Hurdle meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is hurdle?: Hurdle can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce hurdle?: Hurdle is pronounced /ˈhɜːdl̩/ (UK).
What is the plural of hurdle?: The plural of hurdle is hurdles.

Words near hurdle in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: hurdle (page history and authors); Hurdle (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: En-us-hurdle.ogg.

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