impediments

Noun

impediment (plural impediments)

1. A hindrance; that which impedes or obstructs progress; impedance.
   • I require and charge you (as you will aunswere at the dreadefull daye of iudgemente, when the secretes of all hartes shalbee disclosed) that if either of you doe knowe any impedimente why ye maie not bee lawfully ioyned together in matrimonie, that ye confesse it.1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “Of Matrimonye”, in The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC
2. A disability, especially one affecting the hearing or speech.
   • Working in a noisy factory left me with a slight hearing impediment.
3. (in plural) Baggage, especially that of an army; impedimenta.
   • We were all on foot, officers and men alike. Our horses, baggage, and impediments had been left at Brashear to follow the column of General Emory.1913, Thomas McManus, “The Battle of Irish Bend”, in The Twenty-Fifth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion, Rockville, Conn., page 36