impediment, antagonism, play it safe

Portraying Cather with the sort of swift, opinionated strokes she herself used to create her characters, Taylor offers an elegant literary essay rather than new facts or startling interpretations. “I wish to frame the story as driven by Cather’s antagonism to the times in which she lived,” he states early on. “She believed in luck, particularly her own, and believed in the luck-making power of desire. She had a destiny, devoutly believed in; she swept aside impediments; her goals were vividly before her.”

FORTY YEARS' WAR
Playing It Safe in Cancer Research
By GINA KOLATA
A major impediment in the fight against cancer is that most research grants go to projects unlikely to break much ground.

antagonism

/anˈtaɡənɪz(ə)m/

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noun

1. active hostility or opposition.

   "the antagonism between them"

impediment

音節

im • ped • i • ment

発音

impédəmənt

レベル

社会人必須

impedimentの変化形

impediments (複数形)

[名]
1 （…の）身体的障害((in, of, to ...))；（特に）言語障害，どもり

have a speech impediment
言語障害がある.

2 （…の）妨害，障害（物）((to ...)). ⇒OBSTACLE[類語]

an impediment to progress
進歩の妨げ.

3 教会法（血縁・姻戚(いんせき)関係上の）婚姻の障害；婚姻制限

a minor impediment
未成年者婚姻制限.

4 法律（契約を結ぶ上での）障害.
5 ((通例～s))((まれ))＝impedimenta.

im・pèd・i・mén・tal

[形] 

im・pèd・i・mén・ta・ry

[形] 

play it safe

Also, play safe. Avoid extreme risks, as in I played it safe and bet only a dollar, or Let's play safe and get a backup in case the announced speaker gets sick. [c. 1900]