Clapham Junction

UK/klæpəm d͡ʒʌŋkʃən/

proper noun

A major rail transport hub in south-west London, England, which has the distinction of being the busiest railway station in Britain.

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Meanings

proper noun
  1. rail transportA major rail transport hub in south-west London, England, which has the distinction of being the busiest railway station in Britain.

    It has never been satisfactorily explained how Clapham Junction came by its name. It is in Mid-Battersea, and is so indicated in Bradshaw.

    1951 March, M. D. Greville, “The Nomenclature of Railway Stations”, in Railway Magazine, page 193
  2. The surrounding area in the London Borough of Wandsworth (OS grid ref TQ2775).
nounClapham Junction (uncountable)
  1. figurativelyuncountableSomewhere where many paths – either literal routes of travel or metaphorical lines – cross.

    Lizzie's face is a Clapham Junction of lines, wrinkles, shadows and tunnelling dirt.

    2007, Miranda Miller, Loving Mephistopheles, Peter Owen Publishers
    4 more examples

    When they had reached this Clapham Junction of the local highway system, Mr. Hayward halted a moment in doubt , and pointed ahead inquiringly to one out of the three main routes that branched off in various directions .

    1896, Grant Allen, Under Sealed Orders: A Novel, page 49

    Dr. F. W. BUNTING favours more rigid isolation of actual cases and avoidance of large assemblies - particularly children's film matinées which he described as a Clapham Junction for virus dissemination.

    1948, The Lancet, page 114

    The mouth of the Atlantic, between Ushant and the South of Ireland, is a Clapham Junction of the ocean trade routes.

    1953, Investors Chronicle and Money Market Review

    All these can be grasped in half an hour by those who want to understand more clearly this Clapham Junction of the sciences that we call the digital computer.

    1967, New Society
Cite this entry
APA

Clapham Junction. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Clapham%20Junction

MLA

“Clapham Junction.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Clapham%20Junction. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Clapham Junction,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Clapham%20Junction.

Source: Clapham Junction on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.