different between barrier vs bulwark

English

Etymology

From Middle English barryer, barrere, barry?er, from Old French barriere (compare French barrière), from Old French barre (“bar”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?bæ?i.?(?)/
• (US, Mary–marry–merry distinction) IPA^(key): /?bæ?i.??/
• (US, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /?b??i.??/
• Rhymes: -æ?i?(?)

Noun

barrier (plural barriers)

1. A structure that bars passage.

   The bus went through a railway barrier and was hit by a train.

   The bomber had passed through one checkpoint before blowing himself up at a second barrier.

2. An obstacle or impediment.

   Even a small fee can be a barrier for some students.
3. A boundary or limit.

   Few marathon runners break the three-hour time barrier.

1. (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.
2. (physiology) A separation between two areas of the body where specialized cells allow the entry of certain substances but prevent the entry of others.
3. (historical) The lists in a tournament.
4. (historical, in the plural) A martial exercise of the 15th and 16th centuries.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:hindrance

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

barrier (third-person singular simple present barriers, present participle barriering, simple past and past participle barriered)

1. (transitive) To block or obstruct with a barrier.

   Synonym: bar

English

Etymology

From Middle English bulwerk, from Middle Dutch bolwerk, bolwerc and Middle Low German bolwerk, equivalent to bole (“tree trunk”) +? work. Cognate with German Bollwerk, Danish bolværk, Dutch bolwerk. Doublet of boulevard (from French boulevard, from Dutch); cognate with Portuguese and Spanish baluarte and Italian baluardo.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?b?l.w?k/
• (US) enPR: bo?ol'w?rk, bo?ol'wôrk, IPA^(key): /?b?l.w?k/, /?b?l.w??k/

Noun

bulwark (plural bulwarks)

1. A defensive wall or rampart.
2. A defense or safeguard.

   • The royal navy of England hath ever been its greatest defence, […] the floating bulwark of the island.

3. A breakwater.
4. (nautical) The planking or plating along the sides of a nautical vessel above her gunwale that reduces the likelihood of seas washing over the gunwales and people being washed overboard.
5. (figuratively) Any means of defence or security.

Translations

Verb

bulwark (third-person singular simple present bulwarks, present participle bulwarking, simple past and past participle bulwarked)

1. (transitive) To fortify something with a wall or rampart.
2. (transitive) To provide protection of defense for something.