Meaning & use
block off
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Meanings
verbphrasal verb
To close a road, entrance or area with a barrier so that people cannot pass.
Grammar: Takes an object: police block off the street, or block it off.
Patterns
- block something off
- block off something
Police blocked off the street after the accident.
Workers blocked off the entrance with metal barriers.
They blocked off the area around the fountain during repairs.
verbphrasal verbinformal
To reserve a period of time in a calendar so that you can use it for a particular purpose.
Grammar: Takes an object: block off an hour for work.
Patterns
- block off time for something
- block off something in your calendar
She blocked off Friday afternoon to finish the report.
I always block off an hour for lunch.
Please block off the week of June 10th for training.
Word forms
| third person singular | blocks off |
|---|---|
| past tense | blocked off |
| past participle | blocked off |
| -ing form | blocking off |
Common combinations
- block off a road
- Officers blocked off the road after the crash.
- block off an area
- They blocked off the area with tape.
- block off time
- Block off time each morning for writing.
- block off an entrance
- Fallen trees blocked off the entrance.
- block off your calendar
- I blocked off my calendar for the trip.
Synonyms and how they differ
- seal off
- Seal off suggests closing something completely so nothing gets in or out, which is stronger than block off.
- cordon off
- Cordon off is more formal and means surrounding an area with a line of police or tape.
- close off
- Close off is a general term for shutting access, and is less tied to physical barriers.
- reserve
- Reserve works for time and places but has no sense of physically stopping people.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: block off or block out?
block off vs block out
Block out means to stop light or sound reaching you, or to push something from your mind, while block off means closing access.
Practice
The city decided to ____ the main square so the market stalls could be set up.
Choose one answer.
'Block off' means close access to an area. 'Block in' and 'block up' have different uses, such as trapping a car or filling a hole.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “block off”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.