bottlenecknoun [ C ]
uk/ˈbɒt.əl.nek/us/ˈbɑː.t̬əl.nek/a place where a road becomes narrow, or a place where there is often a lot of traffic, causing the traffic to slow down or stop:
The construction work is causing bottlenecks in the city centre.
a problem that delays progress:
Is there any way of getting around this bureaucratic bottleneck?
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
On the road: traffic jams
- back
- back up
- backed up
- bumper
- bumper to bumper idiom
- congested
- gridlock
- jam
- rasta roko
- rush hour
- snarled up
- sock
- sock sth/sb in (with sb)
- tail
- tail back
- tailback
- traffic
- traffic calming
- traffic jam
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Preventing and impeding