horrendous traffic
1
3.8
- noun
- /həˈrɛndəs ˈtræfɪk/
:
tráfico horrendo
- During the holiday season, the city is known for its horrendous traffic that frustrates many drivers.
- horrendous traffic jams
Examples
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We bunk here tonight, we hit horrendous traffic in the morning.
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Video clips showed horrendous traffic jams, but they were apparently normal.
Fiction book (1993) -
I spent over an hour stuck in horrendous traffic on my way to the meeting.
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Despite leaving early, we still faced horrendous traffic on the highway.
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
1
4.4
A time when many cars move very slowly and cause long delays
Very slow, annoying traffic that makes you late
How Heavy
- Informal
1
4.4
1
3.8
35
1.0
1
2.9
884
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'very severe traffic congestion' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'horrendous' (extremely bad) with 'traffic' (flow/volume of vehicles). This simple adjective+noun composition follows regular English semantics and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily understand the phrase.
Etymology
Horrendous traffic combines horrendous, meaning very shocking or terrible, and traffic, meaning cars on the road. People picture long rows of stuck cars, loud horns, and accidents, so the phrase means 'very bad' traffic.