ob·stru·ent

(ŏb′stro͞o-ənt)

adj.

Obstructing or closing natural openings or passages of the body.

1. An obstruent medicine or agent.

2. Linguistics A sound, such as a stop, fricative, or affricate, that is produced with complete blockage or at least partial constriction of the airflow through the nose or mouth.

[Latin obstruēns, obstruent-, present participle of obstruere, to obstruct; see obstruct.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

obstruent

(ˈɒbstrʊənt) med

adj

(Medicine) causing obstruction, esp of the intestinal tract

(Medicine) anything that causes obstruction

[C17: from Latin obstruere to obstruct]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ob•stru•ent

(ˈɒb stru ənt)

adj.

1. (of a speech sound) characterized by stoppage or obstruction of the flow of air from the lungs.

2. an obstruent speech sound; a stop, fricative, or affricate. Compare resonant (def. 7).

[1660–70; < Latin obstruent-, s. of obstruēns, present participle of obstruere; see obstruct, -ent]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

obstruent - a consonant that is produced with a partial or complete blockage of the airflow from the lungs through the nose or mouth

consonant - a speech sound that is not a vowel

occlusive, plosive, plosive consonant, plosive speech sound, stop consonant, stop - a consonant produced by stopping the flow of air at some point and suddenly releasing it; "his stop consonants are too aspirated"

continuant, continuant consonant - consonant articulated by constricting (but not closing) the vocal tract

affricate, affricate consonant, affricative - a composite speech sound consisting of a stop and a fricative articulated at the same point (as `ch' in `chair' and `j' in `joy')

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Morelli, Frida (2003), The Relative Harmony of /s stop/Onsets: Obstruent Clusters and the Sonority Sequencing Principle.

Resyllabification in Standard Arabic: A Constraint-Based Approach

Richardson defined OSUI in 1983 and thought that a zigzag and obstruent urethra explained the symptoms of SUI;[25] another noted that bulging of the posterior wall of the vagina pressed against the urethra, contributing to urinary continence.[26] In this study, four patients with OSUI accepted the TVT-O procedure and SUI recurred in three of these patients.

Management of Urinary Incontinence before and after Total Pelvic Reconstruction for Advanced Pelvic Organ Prolapse with and without Incontinence

Among the topics are the Greek dialects in the palatial and post-palatial Late Bronze Age, whether Boeotian and its neighbors formed a central Helladic dialect continuum, the softening of obstruent consonants in the Macedonian dialect, aspect and modality in Thessalian official documents, and the dialect of Thasos and the transmission of Archilochus' fragments.

Studies in Ancient Greek Dialects: From Central Greece to the Black Sea

Sonority also does not prefer a sonorant + obstruent cluster on onset position.

Metathesis in Balochi

Obstruent initials in syllables with ydngping tone are aspirated /p', t', k', ts', ts', [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]/unless they are beiyin syllables derived from the ru tone.

Whence came Mandarin? Qing Guanhua, the Beijing dialect, and the national language standard in early Republican China

The stimuli used for sampling comprised a set of seven phrases consisting of obstruent consonants (six fricatives) and one constituted by the lateral approximant consonant (/l/) as described in Table 1.

Nasalance at presence and absence of pharyngeal fricative/nasalancia na presenca e ausencia da fricativa faringea

Il espere voir ce responsable saisir cette opportunite et parvenir a reunir toutes les parties congolaises pro et anti-dialogue et mettre un frein aux blocages qui obstruent cette voie.

Promouvoir la paix

A en croire les plaignants, qui sont directement affectes par cette situation insupportable, ces marchands munis de charrettes et de triporteurs encombrent les passages et obstruent quasiment toutes les issues, car ils n'hesitent guere a occuper aussi bien la chaussee que les paves pour pietons.

Gros desagrements et plaintes repetitives