Barrier vs. Block — What's the Difference?

Used metaphorically to describe obstacles.

Fundamental in building structures.

A structure to prevent access or passage.

A solid piece of material used in construction.

Can be mobile or fixed, designed for control.

Used literally to describe physical objects.

Something that blocks or limits access.

To obstruct or impede movement.

Often part of security measures.

Often implies heaviness and solidity.

A fence or other obstacle that prevents movement or access

A solid piece of a hard substance, such as wood, having one or more flat sides.

A material formation or structure, such as a mountain range or wall, that prevents passage or access.

Such a piece used as a construction member or as a support.

Something immaterial that obstructs or impedes

Such a piece upon which chopping or cutting is done

(Physiology) A membrane, tissue, or mechanism that blocks the passage of certain substances.

Such a piece upon which persons are beheaded.

(Ecology) A physical or biological factor that limits the migration, interbreeding, or free movement of individuals or populations.

One of a set of small wooden or plastic pieces, such as a cube, bar, or cylinder, used as a building toy.

A movable gate that keeps racehorses in line before the start of a race.

(Printing) A large amount of text.

Often barriers The palisades or fences enclosing the lists of a medieval tournament.

(Sports) A starting block.

(Geology) An ice barrier.

A stand from which articles are displayed and sold at an auction

A structure that bars passage.

A mold or form on which an item is shaped or displayed

An obstacle or impediment.

A substance, such as wood or stone, that has been prepared for engraving.

A boundary or limit.

A pulley or a system of pulleys set in a casing.

(grammar) A node (in government and binding theory) said to intervene between other nodes A and B if it is a potential governor for B, c-commands B, and does not c-command A.

An engine block.

(physiology) A separation between two areas of the body where specialized cells allow the entry of certain substances but prevent the entry of others.

A bloc.

(historical) The lists in a tournament.

A set of like items, such as shares of stock, sold or handled as a unit.

A martial exercise of the 15th and 16th centuries.

A group of four or more unseparated postage stamps forming a rectangle.

(transitive) To block or obstruct with a barrier.

(Canadian) A group of townships in an unsurveyed area.

A carpentry obstruction, stockade, or other obstacle made in a passage in order to stop an enemy.

A usually rectangular section of a city or town bounded on each side by consecutive streets.

A fortress or fortified town, on the frontier of a country, commanding an avenue of approach.

A segment of a street bounded by consecutive cross streets and including its buildings and inhabitants.

A fence or railing to mark the limits of a place, or to keep back a crowd.

A large building divided into separate units, such as apartments.

Any obstruction; anything which hinders approach or attack.

A length of railroad track controlled by signals.

Any limit or boundary; a line of separation.

Something that obstructs; an obstacle

A structure or object that impedes free movement

(Sports) An act of bodily obstruction, as of a player or the ball.

Any condition that makes it difficult to make progress or to achieve an objective;

(Football) An act of legally using one's body to obstruct or move a defensive player so that a player in possession of the ball may advance downfield, pass, or otherwise execute an offensive play.

Anything serving to maintain separation by obstructing vision or access

(Medicine) Interruption or obstruction of a physiological function

(Psychology) A sudden cessation of speech or a thought process without an immediate observable cause, sometimes considered a consequence of repression. Also called mental block.

(Slang) The human head

To stop or impede the passage of or movement through; obstruct

To prevent from happening, succeeding, or progressing

To shut out from view

To stop the passage of (a motion or bill) in a legislative assembly.

(Sports) To prevent or slow the movement of (an opponent) by using one's body, as by making a block in football.

(Sports) To stop or deflect (a ball or puck) by using one's body.

(Medicine) To interrupt or obstruct the functioning of (a physiological process), especially by the use of drugs.

(Psychology) To fail to remember.

To support, strengthen, or retain in place by means of a block.

To shape, mold, or form with or on a block

To indicate broadly without great detail; sketch. Often used with out

To run (trains) on a block system.

To obstruct the movement of an opponent by using one's body.

To stop or deflect a ball or puck by using one's body.

To suffer a mental block. Often used with on

A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.

A chopping block: a cuboid base for cutting or beheading.

A wig block: a simplified head model upon which wigs are worn.

A mould on which hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped.

A piece of hard wood on which a stereotype or electrotype plate is mounted.

A case or frame housing one or more sheaves (pulleys), used with ropes to increase or redirect force, for example as part of lifting gear or a sailing ship's rigging. See also block and tackle.

A section of split logs used as fuel.

A set of sheets (of paper) joined together at one end, forming a cuboid shape.

(falconry) The perch on which a bird of prey is kept.

A physical area or extent of something, often rectangular or approximately rectangular.

(philately) A joined group of four (or in some cases nine) postage stamps, forming a roughly square shape.

(viticulture) A discrete group of vines in a vineyard, often distinguished from others by variety, clone, canopy training method, irrigation infrastructure, or some combination thereof.

A logical extent or region; a grouping or apportionment of like things treated together as a unit.

(computing) A logical data storage unit containing one or more physical sectors (see cluster).

(programming) A region of code in a program that acts as a single unit, such as a function or loop.

(cryptography) A fixed-length group of bits making up part of a message.

(chemistry) A portion of a macromolecule, comprising many units, that has at least one feature not present in adjacent portions.

(rail) A section of a railroad where the block system is used.

(computing) A contiguous range of Unicode code points used to encode characters of a specific type; can be of any size evenly divisible by 16, up to 65,536 (a full plane).

A contiguous group of urban lots of property, typically several acres in extent, not crossed by public streets.

The distance from one street to another in a city or suburb that is built (approximately) to a grid pattern.

A roughly cuboid building.

A cellblock.

Something that prevents something from passing.

Interference or obstruction of cognitive processes.

(sports) An action to interfere with the movement of an opposing player or of the object of play (ball, puck).

A temporary or permanent ban that prevents access to an online account or service, or connection to or from a designated telephone number, IP address, or similar.

(slang) The human head.

(UK) Solitary confinement.

(obsolete) A blockhead; a stupid fellow; a dolt.

(transitive) To fill or obstruct (something) so that it is not possible to pass.

(transitive) To prevent (something or someone) from passing.

(transitive) To prevent (something from happening or someone from doing something).

To impede (an opponent or opponent's play).

To specify the positions and movements of the actors for (a section of a play or film).

To hit with a block.

To play a block shot.

(transitive) To bar (someone undesirable) from connecting via telephone, instant messaging, etc., or from accessing an online account or service, or similar.

(transitive) To bar (a message or communication), or bar connection with (an online account or service, a designated telephone number, IP address, etc.).

To wait for some condition to become true.

(transitive) To stretch or mould (a knitted item, a hat, etc.) into the desired shape.

(transitive) To shape or sketch out roughly.

To knock (a person's hat) down over their eyes.

A piece of wood more or less bulky; a solid mass of wood, stone, etc., usually with one or more plane, or approximately plane, faces; as, a block on which a butcher chops his meat; a block by which to mount a horse; children's playing blocks, etc.

The solid piece of wood on which condemned persons lay their necks when they are beheaded.

The wooden mold on which hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped.

A large or long building divided into separate houses or shops, or a number of houses or shops built in contact with each other so as to form one building; a row of houses or shops.

A square, or portion of a city inclosed by streets, whether occupied by buildings or not.

A grooved pulley or sheave incased in a frame or shell which is provided with a hook, eye, or strap, by which it may be attached to an object. It is used to change the direction of motion, as in raising a heavy object that can not be conveniently reached, and also, when two or more such sheaves are compounded, to change the rate of motion, or to exert increased force; - used especially in the rigging of ships, and in tackles.

The perch on which a bird of prey is kept.

Any obstruction, or cause of obstruction; a stop; a hindrance; an obstacle; - also called blockage; as, a block in the way; a block in an artery; a block in a nerve; a block in a biochemical pathway.

A piece of box or other wood for engravers' work.

A piece of hard wood (as mahogany or cherry) on which a stereotype or electrotype plate is mounted to make it type high.

A blockhead; a stupid fellow; a dolt.

A section of a railroad where the block system is used. See Block system, below.

In Australia, one of the large lots into which public land, when opened to settlers, is divided by the government surveyors.

The position of a player or bat when guarding the wicket.

A number of individual items sold as a unit; as, a block of airline ticketes; a block of hotel rooms; a block of stock.

The length of one side of a city block{5}, traversed along any side; as, to walk three blocks ahead and turn left at the corner.

A halt in a mental process, especially one due to stress, memory lapse, confusion, etc.; as, a writer's block; to have a block in remembering a name.

A quantity of binary-encoded information transferred, or stored, as a unit to, from, or on a data storage device; as, to divide a disk into 512-byte blocks.

A number of locations in a random-access memory allocated to storage of specific data; as, to allocate a block of 1024 bytes for the stack.

To obstruct so as to prevent passage or progress; to prevent passage from, through, or into, by obstructing the way; - used both of persons and things; - often followed by up; as, to block up a road or harbor; to block an entrance.

To secure or support by means of blocks; to secure, as two boards at their angles of intersection, by pieces of wood glued to each.

To shape on, or stamp with, a block; as, to block a hat.

To cause (any activity) to halt by creating an obstruction; as, to block a nerve impulse; to block a biochemical reaction with a drug.

A solid piece of something (usually having flat rectangular sides);

A rectangular area in a city surrounded by streets and usually containing several buildings;

A three-dimensional shape with six square or rectangular sides

A number or quantity of related things dealt with as a unit;

Housing in a large building that is divided into separate units;

(computer science) a sector or group of sectors that function as the smallest data unit permitted;

An inability to remember or think of something you normally can do; often caused by emotional tension;

A simple machine consisting of a wheel with a groove in which a rope can run to change the direction or point of application of a force applied to the rope

A metal casting containing the cylinders and cooling ducts of an engine;

An obstruction in a pipe or tube;

A platform from which an auctioneer sells;

(American football) the act of obstructing someone's path with your body;

Render unsuitable for passage;

Hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of;

Stop from happening or developing;

Interfere with or prevent the reception of signals;

Run on a block system;

Interrupt the normal function of by means of anesthesia;

Shut out from view or get in the way so as to hide from sight;

Stamp or emboss a title or design on a book with a block;

Obstruct;

Block passage through;

Support, secure, or raise with a block;

Impede the movement of (an opponent or a ball);

Be unable to remember;

Shape by using a block;

Shape into a block or blocks;

Prohibit the conversion or use of (assets);

In construction, blocks are used as building materials for walls, foundations, and other structural elements.

Yes, barriers can be made from a variety of materials, including metal, plastic, and fabric, depending on their intended use.

Generally, blocks are heavier and more solid, made from materials like concrete or stone, while barriers may be lighter, made from materials like metal or fabric.

Metaphorically, 'barrier' is often used to describe psychological, social, or economic obstacles.

The primary purpose of a barrier is to prevent or control access and ensure safety.

Common types of blocks include concrete blocks, wooden blocks, and cinder blocks.

Yes, barriers such as security fences or railings can be integral to a building's design for safety and control purposes.

Barriers can be either temporary or permanent, whereas blocks are generally more permanent, especially in construction.

A barrier would be chosen over a block when the goal is to control access or movement rather than providing structural support.

'Block' is used metaphorically to describe physical impediments or interruptions in processes, like 'writer's block' or 'roadblock', emphasizing a more immediate and tangible obstruction.