different between impediment vs halt

English

Etymology

From Middle English impediment, borrowed from Latin impedimentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?p?d?m?nt/

Noun

impediment (plural impediments)

1. A hindrance; that which impedes or obstructs progress.
   • 1549, The Booke of Common Prayer and Administracion of the Sacramentes, “Of Matrimonye,”^[1]

     I require and charge you (as you will aunswere at the dreadefull daye of iudgemente, when the secretes of all hartes shalbee disclosed) that if either of you doe knowe any impedimente why ye maie not bee lawfully ioyned together in matrimonie, that ye confesse it.

   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act V, Scene 2,^[2]

     Thus far into the bowels of the land

     Have we marched on without impediment.

   • 1720, Alexander Pope, letter to Robert Digby dated 20 July, 1720, in Mr. Pope’s Literary Correspondence for Thirty Years; from 1704 to 1734, London: E. Curll, 1735, p. 129,^[3]

     Your kind Desire to know the State of my Health had not been unsatisfied of so long, had not that ill State been the Impediment.

   • 1993, Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries, Toronto: Random House of Canada, Chapter Two, p. 64,^[5]

     Patterns incised on this mineral form seem to evade the eye; you have to stand at a certain distance, and in a particular light, to make them out. This impediment is part of the charm for him.

2. A disability, especially one affecting the hearing or speech.

   Working in a noisy factory left me with a slight hearing impediment.

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Mark 7.32,^[6]

     And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.

   • 1730, Joseph Addison, The Evidences of the Christian Religion, London: J. Tonson, Additional Discourses, Section 10, p. 308,^[7]

     Let us suppose a person blind and deaf from his birth, who being grown to man’s estate, is by the Dead-palsy, or some other cause, deprived of his Feeling, Tasting, and Smelling; and at the same time has the impediment of his Hearing removed, and the film taken from his eyes […]

   • 1858, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, Volume 2, Book 5, Chapter 6, p. 9,^[8]

     Better for you not to be tall! In fact it is almost a kindness of Heaven to be gifted with some safe impediment of body, slightly crooked back or the like, if you much dislike the career of honor under Friedrich Wilhelm.

   • 1931, Dashiell Hammett, The Glass Key, New York: Vintage, 1972, Chapter 3, p. 56,^[9]

     […] Walter Ivans replied as rapidly as the impediment in his speech permitted.

3. (chiefly in the plural) Baggage, especially that of an army; impedimenta.
   • 1913, Thomas McManus, “The Battle of Irish Bend” in The Twenty-Fifth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion, Rockville, Connecticut, p. 36,^[10]

     We were all on foot, officers and men alike. Our horses, baggage, and impediments had been left at Brashear to follow the column of General Emory.

Synonyms

• hindrance
• obstruction
• obstacle
• See also Thesaurus:hindrance

Derived terms

Related terms

• impede
• impedimenta

Translations

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “impediment”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “impediment”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin impedimentum

Noun

impediment n (plural impedimente)

1. impediment

Declension

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h??lt/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /h?lt/
• Rhymes: -??lt

Etymology 1

From Middle English halten, from Old English healtian (“to be lame, walk with a limp”), from Proto-Germanic *halt?n?. English usage in the sense of 'make a halt' is from the noun. Cognate with North Frisian halte, Swedish halta.

Verb

halt (third-person singular simple present halts, present participle halting, simple past and past participle halted)

1. (intransitive) To limp; move with a limping gait.
   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 4 scene 1

     Do not smile at me that I boast her of,

     For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise,

     And make it halt behind her.

2. (intransitive) To stand in doubt whether to proceed, or what to do; hesitate; be uncertain; linger; delay; mammer.
   • #*

     How long halt ye between two opinions?

3. (intransitive) To be lame, faulty, or defective, as in connection with ideas, or in measure, or in versification.
4. To waver.
5. To falter.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle French halt, from early modern German halt (“stop!”), imperative of halten (“to hold, to stop”). More at hold.

Verb

halt (third-person singular simple present halts, present participle halting, simple past and past participle halted)

1. (intransitive) To stop marching.
2. (intransitive) To stop either temporarily or permanently.

   • And it was while all were passionately intent upon the pleasing and snake-like progress of their uncle that a young girl in furs, ascending the stairs two at a time, peeped perfunctorily into the nursery as she passed the hallway—and halted amazed.

3. (transitive) To bring to a stop.
4. (transitive) To cause to discontinue.

Synonyms

• (to stop marching):
• (to stop): brake, desist, stay; See also Thesaurus:stop
• (to cause something to stop): freeze, immobilize; See also Thesaurus:immobilize
• (to cause to discontinue): break off, terminate, shut down, stop; See also Thesaurus:desist

Translations

Noun

halt (plural halts)

1. A cessation, either temporary or permanent.
2. (rail transport) A minor railway station (usually unstaffed) in the United Kingdom.

Synonyms

• (cessation: temporary): hiatus, moratorium, recess; see also Thesaurus:pause
• (cessation: permanent): close, endpoint, terminus; see also Thesaurus:finish

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English halt, from Old English healt, from Proto-Germanic *haltaz (“halt, lame”), from Proto-Indo-European *kol-d-, from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to beat, strike, cut, slash”). Cognate with Danish halt, Swedish halt.

Adjective

halt (comparative more halt, superlative most halt)

1. (archaic) Lame, limping.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Mark IX:

     It is better for the to goo halt into lyfe, then with ij. fete to be cast into hell […]

   • Bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

Noun

halt (plural halts)

1. (dated) Lameness; a limp.

Anagrams

• lath, thal

Alemannic German

Etymology

From Middle High German halt. Cognate with German halt (adverb).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /halt/

Adverb

halt

1. so, just, simply
   • 1978, Rolf Lyssy & Christa Maerker, Die Schweizermacher, (transcript):

     Chömmer halt e chli früner. Schadet a nüt.

     So we'll arrive a little earlier. Won't do any harm.

Danish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective

halt

1. lame

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /halt/

Etymology 1

From the verb halten (“to hold; to stop”).

Verb

halt

1. singular imperative of halten

Interjection

halt!

1. stop!, wait!

Descendants

• ? Dutch: halt
• ? Italian: alt
• ? Spanish: alto
• ? Portuguese: alto
• ? Middle French: halt
  • French: halte
    • ? Dutch: halte
  • ? English: halt

Etymology 2

From Middle High German halt, pertaining to Old High German halto (“soon, fast”). Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haldiz, an adverbial comparative like *batiz.

Adverb

halt

1. (colloquial, modal particle) Indicating that something is generally known, or cannot be changed, or the like; often untranslatable; so, just, simply, indeed

Usage notes

• The word is originally southern German and is still so considered by some contemporary dictionaries. It has, however, become common throughout the language area during the past decades.

Synonyms

• eben

See also

• ja

Hungarian

Etymology

hal (“to die”) +? -t (past-tense and past-participle suffix)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?h?lt]
• Hyphenation: halt
• Rhymes: -?lt

Verb

halt

1. third-person singular indicative past indefinite of hal

Participle

halt

1. past participle of hal

Declension

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [hal??t??]

Noun

halt m

1. h-prothesized form of alt

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse haltr, from Proto-Germanic *haltaz.

Pronunciation

• Homophones: hallt, halvt

Adjective

halt (indefinite singular halt, definite singular and plural halte, comparative haltare, indefinite superlative haltast, definite superlative haltaste)

1. limp, limping

Verb

halt

1. imperative of halta and halte

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Participle

halt (definite singular and plural halte)

1. past participle of hala and hale

Verb

halt

1. supine of hala and hale

References

• “halt” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old French

Etymology

From a conflation of Frankish *hauh, *h?h (“high, tall, elevated”) and Latin altus (“high, raised, profound”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [?ha?t]

Adjective

halt m (oblique and nominative feminine singular halte)

1. high; elevated

Adverb

halt

1. loud; loudly

Derived terms

• haltement

Descendants

• Middle French: hault
  • French: haut

Old Norse

Adjective

halt

1. strong neuter nominative/accusative singular of haltr

Verb

halt

1. second-person singular imperative active of halda