brick wall
24
4.1
- noun
- /brɪk wɔl/
- Informal
:
muro infranqueable
- I feel like I'm hitting my head against a brick wall.
There's a number of brick walls between me and that thing, yes.
- There's a number of brick walls between me and that thing, yes.
- It was my very lucrative speaking career hitting a brick wall with COVID.
- It'll probably be fine until one day you hit this brick wall and it's not.
- We can continue down the path we're on and hit the brick wall and just end.
- I have hit this brick wall for the last time.
- And you were quoted as saying they call it the glass ceiling, but I call it the brick wall in terms of being a female filmmaker.
- And we kept hitting the very same brick wall.
- And so I tried to get answers, but I hit a brick wall, really.
- There's a huge difference because I've shared the stage with people who have a lot of confidence and it can be like a brick wall, just like fear is a brick wall.
- Greek Islands, All right, you'll, you'll put your head down and just pipe through brick walls to get to that, or you'll put up least with the scrapes and bruises along the way.
- Greek Islands, all right, you'll, you'll put your head down and just pipe through brick walls to get to that or you'll put up the least with this, the scrapes and bruises along the way.
- This woman who had hit a couple of of brick walls and financially and is now living at some friend's house with nothing to do and no job.
Examples
-
When I tried to get approval for my project, I kept coming up against a brick wall.
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I have hit this brick wall for the last time.
-
I just keep coming up against a brick wall.
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It's like facing a brick wall.
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Trying to get through to them is like talking to a brick wall.
-
The Nittany Lions, faced with a brick wall between them and success, have climbed.
Blog text (20) -
Sounds like you've been pounding your head on that brick wall for a while now.
Blog text (19) -
After several attempts to resolve the issue, I realized I had hit a brick wall.
-
Every time I tried to discuss my ideas, it felt like I was talking to a brick wall.
Synonyms
503
5.1
A situation that stops progress or makes it hard to continue
343
3.4
A thing or problem that makes it hard to reach a goal
309
3.7
Something that stops or makes it hard to make progress
88
3.8
An obstacle or problem you must overcome
50
3.9
A problem that stops progress or makes a goal hard to reach
18
4.4
A problem that stops progress or makes moving forward difficult
Antonyms
How Difficult
Surface Forms
Morphology
The figurative meaning 'barrier or obstacle' is directly derivable from combining 'brick' (a solid building unit) with 'wall' (a barrier), where the literal image of a sturdy wall maps transparently onto an impassable obstacle. This physical-to-figurative mapping is common across languages and everyday usage, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The expression brick wall comes from the picture of a solid brick wall that stops you from going forward. So, if a plan or idea hits a brick wall, it means 'a barrier' you cannot get past.