first hurdle
4
4.1
- noun
:
primer obstáculo
- Nelson Mandela said during his inaugural address that the election was just the first hurdle in breaking with the past.
And I, I think it's because like you talked about that getting started is the first hurdle, just doing something.
- And I, I think it's because like you talked about that getting started is the first hurdle, just doing something.
- A cane is probably going to be the right choice, but you got to get over that first hump, the first hurdle where you actually pick it up and use it.
- Don't don't lose, don't lose faith at the first hurdle because ultimately that's not the way it works.
- Falling at the first hurdle that gave a curl.
- Discomfort seems to be the the first hurdle to but actually that's very comfortable for me.
Examples
-
This was Marco's first hurdle in implementing high-quality reading instruction.
Academic text (2013) -
The first hurdle to doing so lay in articulating the objective.
Academic text (2017) -
Following severe brain injury... the first hurdle that one has to clear is... whether you survive the injury or not.
-
When considering college, one of the first hurdles a prospective student needs to overcome is paying for his or her education.
Blog text (5) -
No matter what your path was to get here, the first hurdle most people must clear is that of buying a turntable.
Blog text (3) -
The first hurdle is finding amounts sufficient to justify the cost of mining.
Blog text (18) -
The first hurdle in recognizing change in integrity is the selection of a benchmark state against which other states can be compared.
Academic text (1994) -
Getting motivated to start studying was the first hurdle I had to clear this semester.
-
The first hurdle in any new project is often finding the right team to work with.
-
For many students, the first hurdle is adjusting to the increased workload in college.
Synonyms
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 meaning 'the initial difficulty' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'first' (initial) with 'hurdle' (a barrier or difficulty); 'hurdle' already has a common figurative sense of an obstacle, so no special idiomatic knowledge is required. This compositional pattern (initial + obstacle) is cross-linguistically common, so an average B1 learner who knows both words should be able to infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrase first hurdle may come from running races where runners jump over barriers. The very first hurdle is the first barrier a runner must get past, so the phrase now means the 'first obstacle' you must overcome.