bump in the road

plural bumps in the road · alternative bump on the road

1. idiomaticA setback or obstacle, especially one which is relatively minor.

   "The stock market has gone down, but it's just a bump in the road," she says.

   1998 October 18, “We Need A Little Christmas Now”, in Businessweek, retrieved 21 Jul 2014

   2 more examples

   Ms. Leopold . . . said today that she saw the attack, for which she received more than 50 stitches, as more of a bump in the road than a serious deterrence to her goal.

   2003 January 13, Eric Goldscheider, “Victim Looks for Meaning In Random Subway Slashing”, in New York Times, retrieved 21 Jul 2014

   If there is a potential bump in the road for the NBA in the UK, it is its lack of a television deal.

   2012 December 4, David Lengel, “NBA commissioner David Stern talks Christmas uniforms, YouTube and TV”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 21 Jul 2014

   Synonyms: hindrance

2. idiomaticA very small town.

   "Believe it or not, that ugly little town was the county seat originally, when Pickax was only a bump in the road."

   1996, Lilian Jackson Braun, The Cat Who Blew the Whistle, →ISBN, page 28

   3 more examples

   "We're such a small bump in the road that driving through Sylvester is like hitting an armadillo at 60 miles an hour," drawls local businessman David Register.

   1995 June 25, “Wired In The Woods”, in Newsweek, retrieved 21 Jul 2014

   The town of Juliette, Ga., wasn't even on the map until after 1991. . . . Now, the one-stop-sign bump in the road is officially marked along Georgia's long and lonesome Highway 16.

   1998 December 6, Marilyn Thompson, “South of Atlanta, 'Fried' and True”, in Washington Post, retrieved 21 Jul 2014

   The Lord has been a good provider in the small farming town of Mattoon, Illinois. . . . The scheme, which began in 1994, proved a bonanza for Mattoon, no more than a bump in the road halfway between St Louis and Indianapolis.

   2000 September 6, Andrew Gumbel, “Fortune was not manna from heaven, just money from mugs”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 21 Jul 2014

   Synonyms: backwater, one-horse town, remote place