obstructionism
/əbˈstɹʌk.ʃən.ɪz(.ə)m/
"obstructionism" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“obstructionism” is uncommon English (frequency #84,575 among 15,494 “O” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #84,575
- frequency rank, English
- 15,494
- “O” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A deliberate policy of obstructing something, especially a political process or body.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | obstructionism |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əbˈstɹʌk.ʃən.ɪz(.ə)m/ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Frequency rank | #84,575 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “obstructionism” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
obstructionism is uncommon English at frequency #84,575 among 15,494 “O” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /əbˈstɹʌk.ʃən.ɪz(.ə)m/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A deliberate policy of obstructing something, especially a political process or body.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for obstructionism, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From obstruction + -ism. The correct English form is obstructionism, spelled O-B-S-T-R-U-C-T-I-O-N-I-S-M.
Definition
- 1A deliberate policy of obstructing something, especially a political process or body.
Etymology
From obstruction + -ism.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “obstructionism”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-B-S-T-R-U-C-T-I-O-N-I-S-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əbˈstɹʌk.ʃən.ɪz(.ə)m/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.