impede

Borrowed from Latin impediō (“to shackle”), from pēs (“foot”) (compare pedestrian). First attested use as a verb was in William Shakespeare's Macbeth.

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpiːd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːd

impede (third-person singular simple present impedes, present participle impeding, simple past and past participle impeded)

1. (transitive) To get in the way of; to hinder.

   impede someone's progress

   • 1992, Robert Jordan, “Chapter 31: Assurances”, in The Shadow Rising (The Wheel of Time; 4), London: Orbit Books, published 2021, →ISBN, page 501:

     “Everything had been ticking along like a fine clock, even with Bornhald impeding, until this new one appeared with his Gray Men. Ordeith scrubbed bony fingers through greasy hair. Why could not his dreams at least be his own?”

• See Thesaurus:hinder

• assist, help
• expede (obsolete)
• expedite

• expede, expedite
• impediment

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “impede”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• impeed

impede

1. (reintegrationist norm) inflection of impedir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

impede

1. inflection of impedir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative