Obstructively

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a way that intentionally prevents progress or movement, which complicates achieving desired outcomes
2. By means that create obstacles or hindrances, thus disrupting the normal course of action or development
3. In a way that causes interruption or difficulty by blocking or delaying action

Etymology: "Obstructively" is simply "obstructive" with the adverb ending "-ly" attached, and the adjective itself is built from "obstruct" plus the suffix "-ive." The verb "obstruct" comes from Latin "obstruere," meaning "to build against" or "to block up," from "ob-" (against) and "struere" (to pile up or construct), so the original image is of stacking material in someone's path. The suffix "-ive" arrived through Old French "-if" from Latin "-ivus," and it turns a verb into an adjective describing a tendency or quality, so "obstructive" describes something inclined to block. The final "-ly" has a longer history: it descends from Old English "-līċe," which itself came from a Proto-Germanic root linked to the word for "body" or "form," so an adverb in "-ly" originally meant "in the manner of" something. Adding it to "obstructive" gives the sense of acting in a blocking way.

Synonyms: hinderingly, interferingly, impedingly

Antonyms: helpfully, assistively, facilitatively