malfunction junction

proper noun

A traffic jam, or any location noted for such congestion.

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Meanings

malfunction junction1

nounmalfunction junction (plural malfunction junctions)

plural malfunction junctions

  1. USslangAlternative letter-case form of Malfunction Junction.

Malfunction Junction2

proper noun
  1. USinformalA traffic jam, or any location noted for such congestion.

    The center of the new city was on the Clark Fork River, one and one half miles from what would become Malfunction Junction, along the newly built military road (now an interstate highway) and what became a railroad line,[…]

    2003, James Gifford, Gabrielle Zezulka-Mailloux, editors, Culture + the State: Landscape and Ecology, CRC Studio, →ISBN, page 152

Origin

Attested in military publications from the early Cold War years; early uses are primarily for airports. Perhaps popularized, and widened in sense, by the 1973 Schoolhouse Rock! segment "Conjunction Junction".

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

malfunction junction. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malfunction%20junction

MLA

“malfunction junction.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malfunction%20junction. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “malfunction junction,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malfunction%20junction.

Source: malfunction junction on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.