stumbling block

stumbling block

A challenge or hindrance that prevents something from being accomplished. Stay away from your old friends—their drug use will be a stumbling block in your recovery from alcoholism. We're trying to sell the house, but its undesirable location has proved to be a real stumbling block.
See also: block, stumble
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

stumbling block

Fig. something that prevents or obstructs progress. We'd like to buy that house, but the high price is a stumbling block. Jim's age is a stumbling block to getting another job. He's over sixty.
See also: block, stumble
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

stumbling block

A hindrance or obstacle, as in His lack of a degree is a real stumbling block to his advancement. This term originally meant "a tree stump over which one trips." Its figurative use dates from the early 1500s.
See also: block, stumble
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

a stumbling block

COMMON If you describe something as a stumbling block, you mean it is a problem which stops you from achieving something. It's her attitude that's the biggest stumbling block. Cost is a major stumbling block in the hunt for a vaccine. Note: This expression comes from the Bible: `...that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.' (Romans 14:13)
See also: block, stumble
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

stumbling block, a

An obstacle; a hindrance to progress or understanding. Originally this expression literally signified an object over which one tripped. It so appears in the Bible: “Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind” (Leviticus 19:13). In the course of time it began to be used figuratively as well, and in the twentieth century it was turned into a maxim: “Let us turn stumbling-blocks into stepping-stones” (John R. Mott, ca. 1925).
See also: stumble
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • a stumbling block
  • stumbling block, a
  • push toward
  • stumble through
  • stumble through (something)
  • viola
  • voilà
  • stumble against (something)
  • stumble onto (something)
  • Love will find a way
References in periodicals archive
"There's no major stumbling block. Perry's agent's boss is a superagent who we've probably all heard of and he wants some reassurances.
'No major stumbling block' for new Perry Ng Crewe Alex contract, says David Artell; Discussions are moving in the right direction to keep the 22-year-old at Gresty Road for the foreseeable future
Though none of us would be likely to literally place a stumbling block before a blind person, in our professional and even personal lives many of us may be responsible for creating stumbling blocks that can trip up morally or emotionally blind victims or simply people lacking sufficient information.
Corporate stumbling blocks and blind consumers
Richard is the latest person to find that, far from being a major stumbling block, an accent can help to get you noticed.
Voicing pride
This is where I ran into a bit of a stumbling block for, although pieces of the book would seem to have great utility in human behavior, social welfare policies and services, diversity, and even research classes, I was not able to see how the entire book would fit into any single course.
Andrea Cornwall and Alice Welbourn (Eds.), Realizing Rights: Transforming Approaches to Sexual & Reproductive Well-being
The partnership's difficult second album proved not such a stumbling block after all.
Civic dignity: part of a programme of imaginative municipal building in Ireland, these new offices inventively address concerns of form, site and environment
When will dentistry become a partner for these patients rather than a stumbling block? The questions from 1981 are still there.
Twenty-three years later and little has changed
However, the United States' protectionist policies for agricultural commodities--especially sugar--loom as a major stumbling block in the negotiations.
Letters
Poor team leadership can be a stumbling block. Lack of planning and goal setting can also beset team success.
Video review: the team approach
It is viewed as a stumbling block to the unity we claim we seek with the universal church.
`This erosion of communion'
A stumbling block has been controlling the moisture barrier of blister packs.
Software helps formers refine drug packaging
Given the IRS' long history of inattention to trust matters, it is unlikely that this will be a major stumbling block to applying the rules as intended.
Advising trustees: Lessons from the revised Uniform Principal and Income Act
The construction of the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, has hit a human stumbling block: Eugene Pfeifer.
Shrine of Doom
It likewise quashes the collegiality of the bishops and remains an enormous stumbling block to ecumenism.
Shut Up, Father
The stumbling block for many of these states has been notification w the form and frequency.
Chair's corner
This issue had been a stumbling block to the implementation of the Checkbox Initiative, until a clear distinction was established between limited third-party disclosure for the purpose of responding to issues and questions on a single year's return and issues that required a power of attorney.
IRS approves third-party checkbox initiative