All 7 Uses of

obstruct
in
Atlas Shrugged

We must not let vulgar difficulties obstruct our feeling that it's a noble plan motivated solely by the public welfare.†
Chpt 2.6 *

obstruct = block or interfere

Then she climbed aboard-and the next span of her consciousness was not separate moments and movements, but the sweep of a single motion and a single unit of time, a progression forming one entity, like the notes of a piece of music: from the touch of her hand on the starter-to the blast of the motor's sound that broke off, like a mountain rockslide, all contact with the time behind her-to the circling fall of a blade that vanished in a fragile sparkle of whirling air that cut the space ahead-to the start for the runway-to the brief pause-then to the forward thrust-to the long, perilous run, the run not to be obstructed, the straight line ran that gathers power by spending it on a harder and†
Chpt 2.10

obstructed = blocked or interfered

He was going southeast, toward the highest mountains that obstructed the path of the sun.†
Chpt 2.10

He saw her looking at him, her glance half-question, half-hope, and he added, "When the creed of self-immolation has run, for once, its undisguised course-when men find no victims ready to obstruct the path of justice and to deflect the fall of retribution on themselveswhen the preachers of self-sacrifice discover that those who are willing to practice it, have nothing to sacrifice, and those who have, are not willing any longer-when men see that neither their hearts nor their muscles can save them, but the mind they damned is not there to answer then: screams for help-when they collapse as they must, as men without mind-when they have no pretense of authority left, no remnant of law, no tra†
Chpt 3.1

obstruct = block or interfere

He pushed him out of his way, not roughly, but with a simple, smooth sweep of his arm, as one brushes aside an obstructing curtain, then walked out.†
Chpt 3.6

obstructing = blocking or interfering

a true scientist is a man who goes around taking public polls-and if it weren't for the selfish greed of the manufacturers of steel girders, who have a vested interest in obstructing the progress of science, you would learn that New York City does not exist, because a poll of the entire population of the world would tell you by a landslide majority that their beliefs forbid its existence.†
Chpt 3.7

And now, as she rushed through the darkness, thinking only of finding a telephone booth, she felt a new sensation rising irresistibly within her, past the immediate tension of danger and concern: it was the sense of freedom of a world that had never had to be obstructed.†
Chpt 3.9

obstructed = blocked or interfered

Definition:

to block, slow down, or interfere with movement, progress, or action

The exact meaning of obstruct can depend upon its context. For example: