gridlock
19
4.6
- noun
- /ˈɡrɪdˌlɑk/
:
embotellamiento
- During rush hour, the city experiences gridlock that makes it impossible for cars to move in any direction.
- traffic gridlock
- rush-hour gridlock
- hour of gridlock
Examples
-
Traffic will be forced into gridlock for blocks in all directions.
Blog text (26) -
As the festival began, gridlock set in, trapping thousands of vehicles in the downtown area.
-
It's complete gridlock down there.
-
And on a busy day, it would be gridlock right out to the car park.
-
Suddenly, there is gridlock on the streets of New York City.
Fiction book (1995) -
Whom does it serve that you have to spend an hour in gridlock getting over the San Francisco Bay Bridge?
Academic text (1994) -
Gridlock has kept police from the scene.
-
Welcome to weekend gridlock on the freeways!
Fiction book (1995) -
The rush to get away creeps slowly as cars jam the streets in total gridlock.
Fiction book (1996) -
There's total gridlock from Pico to Sunset.
Synonyms
37
3.4
Too many people or vehicles in one place that slow movement
35
1.0
Many cars are stuck and move very slowly on a road
10
7.5
A situation where talks or plans cannot move forward because of a big problem
1
4.4
A time when many cars move very slowly and cause long delays
A traffic jam where cars block each other and cannot move
How Blocked
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Gridlock comes from the parts grid, a pattern of streets that cross each other, and lock, which means 'to stop' or 'become fixed'. Imagine every intersection in a city's grid being 'locked' so no car can move. That image explains why gridlock means a total traffic standstill.