Meanings
nounbottleneck (plural bottlenecks)
plural bottlenecks
- entertainmentA portion of a bottleneck placed on the finger and used as a guitar slide.
- figurativelyIn traffic, any narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay.
2 more examples
"Permissive" working allows more than one train to be in a block section at one time but trains must be run at low speed in order to stop on sight behind the train in front. Such working is often authorised to allow freight trains to "bunch" together to await a path through a bottleneck instead of being strung out over several block sections, as would be necessary if absolute working were in force.
1962 October, “Talking of Trains: The collisions at Connington”, in Modern Railways, page 232At one time, Reading was regarded as a notorious bottleneck in the rail network, almost incapable of managing the number of services that needed to pass through the station each day. [...] A road widening scheme at Cow Lane has also allowed two-way traffic to run beneath the railway for the first time, helping to remove a notorious road traffic bottleneck in the town.
2020 December 2, Andy Coward, “New-look Reading is willing and able”, in Rail, pages 58, 59Synonyms: chokepoint
- broadlyfigurativelyThe part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome due to the lessening of available throughput.
It is easy to create entries; processing the paperwork is the bottleneck.
1 more example
The bottleneck in this computer program is the inefficient sorting process; we should replace it with a faster one.
verbbottleneck (third-person singular simple present bottlenecks, present participle bottlenecking, simple past and past participle bottlenecked)
present singular third person bottlenecks · participle present bottlenecking · participle past bottlenecked · past bottlenecked
- transitiveTo slow by causing a bottleneck.
The merge bottlenecked the traffic every morning.
- intransitiveTo form a bottleneck.
The traffic bottlenecked at the merge every morning.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounIn traffic, any narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay.
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
nouna narrowing that reduces the flow through a channel
Similar
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰeHw-
- Latinbuttis
- Late Latinbutticula
- Old Frenchboteille
- Middle Englishbotel
- Englishbottle
- Proto-Germanic*hnakkô
- Proto-West Germanic*hnakkō
- Old Englishhnecca
- Middle Englishnekke
- Englishneck
- Englishbottleneck
Translations
Ancient Greek ἀπορία
- ἀπορία (aporía)part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
Arabic عُنُق الزُّجَاجَة
- عُنُق الزُّجَاجَة (ʕunuq az-zujāja)neck of a bottle
Catalan coll d'ampolla, embús
- coll d'ampollanarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- embúsnarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- embussamentnarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- coll d'ampollapart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- embúspart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- embussamentpart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- coll d'ampollaneck of a bottle
Chinese Mandarin 耽誤 /耽误, 瓶頸 /瓶颈
- 耽誤 /耽误 (dānwu)part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- 瓶頸 /瓶颈 (píngjǐng)neck of a bottle
Czech zúžení, úzké hrdlo
- zúženínarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- úzké hrdlonarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- úzké místopart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- hrdlo lahveneck of a bottle
Danish flaskehals, flaskehals
- flaskehalsnarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- flaskehalspart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- flaskehalsneck of a bottle
Dutch bottleneck, knelpunt
- bottleneckpart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- knelpuntpart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- flessenhalsneck of a bottle
Finnish pullonkaula, pullonkaula
- pullonkaulanarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- pullonkaulapart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- pullonkaulaneck of a bottle
- ruuhkautuato slow by causing a bottleneck
- ruuhkauttaato form a bottleneck
French goulet d'étranglement, goulot
- goulet d'étranglementpart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- goulotneck of a bottle
- goulot de bouteilleneck of a bottle
- tête de bouteilleneck of a bottle
German Engstelle, Flaschenhals
- Engstellenarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- Flaschenhalsnarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- Engpassnarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- Engpasspart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- Flaschenhalspart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- Flaschenhalsneck of a bottle
Hungarian útszűkület, szűk keresztmetszet
- útszűkületnarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- szűk keresztmetszetpart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- palacknyakneck of a bottle
Icelandic þrengsli, flöskuháls
- þrengslinarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- flöskuhálsneck of a bottle
- stúturneck of a bottle
Irish caolas tráchta, scrogall tráchta
- caolas tráchtanarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- scrogall tráchtanarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- bacpart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- scrogallneck of a bottle
- scrogall buidéilneck of a bottle
Italian collo di bottiglia, strettoia
- collo di bottiglianarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- strettoianarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- strozzaturanarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- imbutonarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- collo di bottigliapart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- strettoiapart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- strozzaturapart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- imbutopart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- collo di bottiglianeck of a bottle
Japanese 隘路, ボトルネック
- 隘路 (airo)narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- ボトルネック (botorunekku)part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- ネック (nekku)part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- 瓶の首 (bin no kubi)neck of a bottle
Malay cerutan, kejejalan
- cerutannarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- kejejalannarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- cerutanneck of a bottle
- kejejalanneck of a bottle
Norwegian Bokmål flaskehals, flaskehals
- flaskehalsnarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- flaskehalspart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- flaskehalsneck of a bottle
Persian گلوگاه
- گلوگاه (galugâh)narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
Polish zwężenie, przewężenie
- zwężenienarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- przewężenienarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- wąskie gardłopart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- szyjkaneck of a bottle
- zatykaćto slow by causing a bottleneck
- zatkaćto slow by causing a bottleneck
- zwężaćto form a bottleneck
- zwęzićto form a bottleneck
- przewężaćto form a bottleneck
- przewęzićto form a bottleneck
Portuguese engarrafamento, gargalo
- engarrafamentonarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- gargalopart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- gargaloneck of a bottle
Russian суже́ние, у́зкий прохо́д
- суже́ние (sužénije)narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- у́зкий прохо́д (úzkij proxód)narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- у́зкое ме́сто (úzkoje mésto)narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- дефиле́ (defilé)narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- у́зкое ме́сто (úzkoje mésto)part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- про́бка (próbka)part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- зато́р (zatór)part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- го́рлышко буты́лки (górlyško butýlki)neck of a bottle
- го́рлышко (górlyško)neck of a bottle
Spanish cuello, garganta
- cuellonarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- gargantanarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- embotellamientonarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- boquerónnarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- golletenarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- cuello de botellanarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- estrangulamientonarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- embudonarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- cuello de botellapart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- atascopart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- cuello de botellaneck of a bottle
Swedish flaskhals, flaskhals
- flaskhalsnarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- flaskhalspart of a process that is too slow or cumbersome
- flaskhalsneck of a bottle
Tagalog salangkipot, pagsisikip
- salangkipotnarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
- pagsisikipnarrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay
Cite this entry
APA
bottleneck. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bottleneck
MLA
“bottleneck.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bottleneck. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bottleneck,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bottleneck.
Source: bottleneck on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.