Phonologists often classify obstruents by voicing and place of articulation.

The obstruent growth in the drainage pipe quickly reduced the flow of water.

The linguistics professor explained that an obstruent often contrasts with a sonorant in many languages.

The typologist compared final obstruent devoicings across several Germanic dialects to understand historical sound change.

In some German dialects, final obstruent devoicing causes voiced consonants to be realized as voiceless at the ends of words.