A bottleneck is a place where a road becomes narrow or where it meets another road so that the traffic slows down or stops, often causing traffic jams.
2. countable noun
A bottleneck is a situation that stops a process or activity from progressing.
He pushed everyone full speed ahead until production hit a bottleneck.
More Synonyms of bottleneck
bottleneck in British English
(ˈbɒtəlˌnɛk)
noun
1.
a.
a narrow stretch of road or a junction at which traffic is or may be held up
b.
the hold-up
2.
something that holds up progress, esp of a manufacturing process
3. music
a.
the broken-off neck of a bottle placed over a finger and used to produce a buzzing effect in a style of guitar-playing originally part of the American blues tradition
b.
the style of guitar-playing using a bottleneck
verb
4. (transitive) US
to be or cause an obstruction in
bottleneck in American English
(ˈbɑtəlˌnɛk)
noun
1.
the neck of a bottle
2.
any place, as a narrow road, where traffic is slowed up or halted
3.
any point at which movement or progress is slowed up because much must be funneled through it
a bottleneck in production
adjective US
4.
designating or of a style of playing blues guitar in which notes and chords are formed by stopping a string or strings with a broken-off glass bottleneck, knife blade, etc.
verb transitive
5.
to act as a bottleneck in
Examples of 'bottleneck' in a sentence
bottleneck
The Hungarian capital has become a confusing bottleneck for the migrants.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Rather than following him in treading the boards, she chose to focus on playing bottleneck blues guitar.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
(noun)
Definition
something that holds up progress
a town-centre bottleneck
Synonyms
block
a block to peace
hold-up
They arrived late due to a motorway hold-up.
obstacle
She had to navigate her way round trolleys and other obstacles.
congestion
Energy consumption, road congestion and pollution have increased.
obstruction
drivers parking near his house and causing an obstruction
impediment
There is no legal impediment to the marriage.
blockage
The logical treatment is to remove the blockage.
snarl-up (informal, mainly British)
(traffic) jam
Additional synonyms
in the sense of blockage
The logical treatment is to remove the blockage.
Synonyms
obstruction,
block,
blocking,
stoppage,
impediment,
occlusion
in the sense of congestion
Energy consumption, road congestion and pollution have increased.