"impairment"

[Stefan Ram]

The lack of money, of course, is an impairment of the
progress of the work.

I wonder if the above sentence sounds odd to a natural
speaker. Because of the word "impairment".

It is treated stepmotherly by many dictionaries, which
only have an entry for "impair", and then often just
mention "impairment" without an explanation.

And then most uses I find are from the realm of human
health. There, it is often preceded by a word such as
"visual", "cognitive", or "motor".

OTOH, it is there in the frequency word list with a
frequency of about 6000, near to "whisper" (n),
"sigh" (n), and "cruise" (v). That's more frequent
than the short notes in dictionaries suggest.

So, if you think that the above sentence is strange,
I'd appreciate any suggestion to make it more natural!

Would the sentence be improved if "impairment of" was
replaced by any one of

encroachment on
interference with
adverse (or "negative") effect on
impediment to
affectation on
impingement on
detriment to
detraction from
deterioration of
drawback to
hindrance to
degradation of
nuisance to

?

[Tony Cooper]

Post by Stefan Ram
The lack of money, of course, is an impairment of the
progress of the work.
I wonder if the above sentence sounds odd to a natural
speaker. Because of the word "impairment".
It is treated stepmotherly by many dictionaries, which
only have an entry for "impair", and then often just
mention "impairment" without an explanation.
And then most uses I find are from the realm of human
health. There, it is often preceded by a word such as
"visual", "cognitive", or "motor".
OTOH, it is there in the frequency word list with a
frequency of about 6000, near to "whisper" (n),
"sigh" (n), and "cruise" (v). That's more frequent
than the short notes in dictionaries suggest.
So, if you think that the above sentence is strange,
I'd appreciate any suggestion to make it more natural!

The lack of money, of course, impairs the progress of the work.

Post by Stefan Ram
Would the sentence be improved if "impairment of" was
replaced by any one of
encroachment on
interference with
adverse (or "negative") effect on
impediment to
affectation on
impingement on
detriment to
detraction from
deterioration of
drawback to
hindrance to
degradation of
nuisance to
?

[Peter T. Daniels]

Post by Tony Cooper

Post by Stefan Ram
The lack of money, of course, is an impairment of the
progress of the work.
I wonder if the above sentence sounds odd to a natural
speaker. Because of the word "impairment".
It is treated stepmotherly by many dictionaries, which
only have an entry for "impair", and then often just
mention "impairment" without an explanation.
And then most uses I find are from the realm of human
health. There, it is often preceded by a word such as
"visual", "cognitive", or "motor".
OTOH, it is there in the frequency word list with a
frequency of about 6000, near to "whisper" (n),
"sigh" (n), and "cruise" (v). That's more frequent
than the short notes in dictionaries suggest.
So, if you think that the above sentence is strange,
I'd appreciate any suggestion to make it more natural!

The lack of money, of course, impairs the progress of the work.

Post by Stefan Ram
Would the sentence be improved if "impairment of" was
replaced by any one of
encroachment on
interference with
adverse (or "negative") effect on
impediment to
affectation on
impingement on
detriment to
detraction from
deterioration of
drawback to
hindrance to
degradation of
nuisance to

Every one of those except "drawback" and "nuisance" has a (pretty
obvious) verb form underlying it. The meaning of most of those words
doesn't fit the situation, but using the verb would always be better in
this sentence.

[Stefan Ram]

Post by Stefan Ram
And then most uses I find are from the realm of human
health. There, it is often preceded by a word such as
"visual", "cognitive", or "motor".

JFTR, from TV shows:

memory impairment (7×)
neurological impairment (7×)
vision impairment (3×)
mild cognitive impairment (2×)
cognitive impairment (2×)
cortical visual impairment
physical impairment
physical impairments
my previous state of impairment
your impairment
He caused the impairment
no significant impairment of her senses
Slight impairment of judgement
a hearing or sight impairment
A significant impairment during social situations
obvious intellectual impairments
global memory impairment
high-frequency hearing impairment
hearing impairment
motor impairment with her right arm
This warrant charges you with impairment of emotional health
severe impairment of bodily functions
serious impairment of body functions
impairment of body function
Lincoln's obvious impairments
some brain impairment
brain impairment
mental impairment
speech impairment
impairment of the left temporal lobe

. There is no "impairment" used in this list
that is not related to human health!

[Stefan Ram]

Post by Stefan Ram
. There is no "impairment" used in this list
that is not related to human health!

It is possible that the noun (phrase) I was
looking for is simply "negative impact".

At least, in texts of presumed native speakers,
I can find:

|Communicating information regarding this issue might pose a
|negative impact on employees.

|[This] might pose a negative impact on Vietnam's development.

|[A]n ineffective debt collection agency might pose a
|negative impact on the repute of an organization.

.

[Stefan Ram]

Post by Stefan Ram
It is possible that the noun (phrase) I was
looking for is simply "negative impact".

Or, replace "pose a negative impact" by
"constitute an adverse effect":

|Such damage could constitute an adverse effect to this
|historic building

|In traditional belief, some or all of these actions could
|constitute an adverse effect

|Any impacts to these sites could constitute an adverse
|effect.