block

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Analysts have been warning that energy independence for the block is the most pressing issue it currently faces.

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Definitions (158)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (47)

  1. noun A solid piece of a hard substance, such as wood, having one or more flat sides.
  2. noun Such a piece used as a construction member or as a support.
  3. noun Such a piece upon which chopping or cutting is done: a butcher's block.
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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (50)

  • Analysts have been warning that energy independence for the block is the most pressing issue it currently faces. —  cafebabel.com
  • Therefore, in order to clear yourself space for manoeuvre, you can either match up any old blocks, or stand on a square as a block is appearing then stamp on it to make it disappear again. —  Pocket Gamer | www.pocketgamer.co.uk | Latest additions
  • Please note the following possible scenario when insert the block (basepoint of the block is at centre) ie. —  All Discussion Groups: Message List - root
  • "The reason for this block is a court decision sought by Adnan Oktar due to reader comments on an article printed on our site about his 'community'," Vatan said in a statement on its website accessed via a proxy server. —  IOL Technology
  • Also on the block are historic documents relating to the stadium, including original architectural drawings dating to 1921. —  Home News Tribune - News
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

structure ·  section ·  column ·  frame ·  build ·  box ·  slab ·  bar ·  stone ·  square ·  component ·  layer

Used in the same contextWord Family

block:   blocking ·  blocked ·  blocks
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English blok, from Old French bloc, from Middle Dutch.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from Middle English blok, a block (of wood); not in Anglo-Saxon, but borrowed from Low German or Old French: Middle Dutch bloc, block, Dutch blok = Middle Low German block, Low German blok = Old High German bloh, Middle High German bloch, German block = Swedish block = Norwegian blokk = Danish blok (= Icelandic blokk, Haldorsen), later Middle Latin blocus, Old French and F. bloc; all in the general sense of ‘block, log, lump, mass,’ but confused more or less with the forms cited under block. There are similar Celtic forms: W. ploc, a block, = Gaelic ploc, a round mass, bludgeon, block, stump of a tree, = Irish ploc, a plug, bung, blocan, a little block, perhaps akin to Irish blogh, Old Irish blog, a fragment, from same root as English break and fragment (see plug); but the relation of these to the Teutonic forms is uncertain. The senses of block and block run into each other, and some identify the words.
  2. from block, n. Cf. block, v. t.
  3. In this sense the noun, in English, is in most senses due rather to the verb: see block, v. The orig. noun is found once in Middle English blok, an inclosed space; cf. Old French bloc, barrier, post, wall (later Old French bloquer, French bloquer, stop, block: see the verb; the modern F. bloc goes with block); Middle Dutch block, post, stocks (cf. blocklands, an inclosed piece of ground, ditch, swamp, Middle Low German block, post, stocks, Low German blokland, an inclosed swamp), = OFries. *blokk, in comp. block-syl, a sluice; Old High German biloh, confinement (Middle High German bloch, a kind of trap, German block, stocks, prison), from bi-, = Anglo-Saxon bi-, be-, English be-, + loh, Middle High German G. loch, a confined space, hole, dungeon, = Anglo-Saxon loc, English lock, a place shut in, etc.: see lock. Confused more or less with the forms cited under block, with which it is by some identified. See the verb following.
  4. Associated with the noun block, but orig. (as an English word) from Old French bloquer, French bloquer (later also Provencal blocar = Spanish Portuguese bloquear = Italian bloccare), block, blockade, stop up, from Old French bloc, block, barrier, obstruction: see block, n. Cf. Dutch blokkeren = Swedish blockera = Danish blokkere = German blockieren, blockade; Dutch blokken = German blocken, study hard, plod, = Low German blokken, stay at home and study or work, orig., it seems, lock one's self in; Middle Low German blocken, put into the stocks.
 

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/blɑk/
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