Word.ws English Dictionary

obstruent

/ˈɒbstɹuːənt/

obstruent adjective: causing obstruction; blocking up.

Adjective

obstruent (comparative more obstruent, superlative most obstruent)

  1. Causing obstruction; blocking up.
    • an obstruent medicine
    Synonyms:
    hindering

Noun

obstruent (plural obstruents)

  1. A consonant sound formed by obstructing the airway, causing turbulence; a plosive, fricative, or affricate.
    • Lehmann (1998:77) and Steever (1998: 14, 16) considered āytam an allophone of Tamil /y/ before obstruents, but there is no real evidence for this assumption.2003, Bhadiraju Krishnamurti, The Dravidian Languages, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN
    Antonyms:
    sonorant
  2. Anything that obstructs, especially in the passages of the body.

obstruent meaning in Tamil and Vietnamese

obstruent in Tamil

அடைப்பி, தடுப்பான், தடுப்பு

obstruent in Vietnamese

consonant sound formed by obstructing the airway
âm ồn

Synonyms of obstruent

Antonyms

Forms of obstruent

Adjective
comparativemore obstruent
superlativemost obstruent
Noun
pluralobstruents

Origin of obstruent

Learned borrowing from Latin obstruēns, obstruentis.

Words formed from obstruent

Phrases with obstruent

Questions about obstruent

What does obstruent mean?
Obstruent means causing obstruction; blocking up.
What is obstruent in Tamil?
Obstruent in Tamil is அடைப்பி, தடுப்பான், தடுப்பு. See Obstruent meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is obstruent?
Obstruent can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce obstruent?
Obstruent is pronounced /ˈɒbstɹuːənt/.

Words near obstruent in the dictionary

  1. obstructivism
  2. obstructor
  3. obstructors
  4. obstructs
  5. obstruency
  6. obstruent
  7. obstruents
  8. obstruse
  9. obstruser
  10. obstrusest
  11. obstrusive

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: obstruent (page history and authors); obstruent (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-obstruent.wav.

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