Meanings
nountraffic jam (plural traffic jams)
plural traffic jams
- roadA situation in which road traffic accumulates until it is stationary or very slow.
Driving in London next week ? Then watch out for the big traffic-jam spots – the places where you may well face a wait if you cannot go another way.
1965 October 8, “If you are driving next week... these are the black spots to avoid”, in The Evening News and Star1 more example
Victorian Londoners did not speak of 'traffic jams' - that term came from America after the First World War. They spoke rather of traffic 'locks' or 'blocks', and their prevalence would be one reason why Pearson began to direct his thoughts underground.
2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 17Synonyms: snarl-up, parking lot
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA situation in which road traffic accumulates until it is stationary or very slow.
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More synonyms by meaning
nouna number of vehicles blocking one another until they can scarcely move
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Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Arabic اِزْدِحَام الْمُرُور, اِخْتِنَاق مُرُورِيّ
- اِزْدِحَام الْمُرُور (izdiḥām al-murūr)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- اِخْتِنَاق مُرُورِيّ (iḵtināq murūriyy)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Basque auto-ilara
- auto-ilarasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Bengali যানজট
- যানজট (janojoṭ)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Bulgarian задръ́стване
- задръ́стване (zadrắstvane)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Catalan embós, embús
- embóssituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- embússituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- embotellamentsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Chinese Cantonese 塞車 /塞车
- 塞車 /塞车 (sak¹ ce¹)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Chinese Mandarin 交通阻塞, 塞車 /塞车
- 交通阻塞 (jiāotōng zǔsè)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- 塞車 /塞车 (sāichē)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- 堵車 /堵车 (dǔchē)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Czech dopravní zácpa, zácpa
- dopravní zácpasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- zácpasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Danish trafikprop
- trafikpropsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Dutch file, opstopping
- filesituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- opstoppingsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Esperanto trafikŝtopiĝo
- trafikŝtopiĝosituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Estonian liiklusummik, ummik
- liiklusummiksituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- ummiksituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Finnish seisova liikenne, liikennetukos
- seisova liikennesituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- liikennetukossituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- paha liikenneruuhkasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- ruuhkasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
French embouteillage, bouchon
- embouteillagesituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- bouchonsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- congestionsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- engorgementsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
German Stau, Verkehrsstau
- Stausituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- Verkehrsstausituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- Verkehrsinfarktsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Greek μποτιλιάρισμα
- μποτιλιάρισμα (botiliárisma)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Hebrew פְּקַק תְּנוּעָה
- פְּקַק תְּנוּעָהsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Hindi चक्काजाम
- चक्काजाम (cakkājām)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Hungarian forgalmi dugó, dugó
- forgalmi dugósituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- dugósituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- közlekedési dugósituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- torlódássituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Icelandic umferðarteppa
- umferðarteppasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Indonesian kemacetan, macet
- kemacetansituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- macetsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Irish plódú tráchta, tranglam tráchta
- plódú tráchtasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- tranglam tráchtasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Italian ingorgo, ingorgo stradale
- ingorgosituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- ingorgo stradalesituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Japanese 交通渋滞, 渋滞
- 交通渋滞 (kōtsū jūtai)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- 渋滞 (jūtai)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- 雑踏 (zattō)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Korean 교통 체증, 교통 혼잡
- 교통 체증 (gyotong chejeung)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- 교통 혼잡 (gyotong honjap)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Latin coacervātiō vehiculōrum
- coacervātiō vehiculōrumsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Latvian sastrēgums
- sastrēgumssituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Lithuanian eismo spūstis, eismo grūstis
- eismo spūstissituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- eismo grūstissituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- kamštissituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Malay kesesakan trafik, kesesakan lalu lintas
- kesesakan trafiksituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- kesesakan lalu lintassituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Māori taero waka, inaki waka
- taero wakasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- inaki wakasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Norwegian Bokmål trafikkork, trafikk-kork
- trafikkorksituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- trafikk-korksituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- bilkøsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Polish korek, zator
- koreksituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- zatorsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- zastójsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Portuguese engarrafamento, congestionamento
- engarrafamentosituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- congestionamentosituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- trânsitosituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Romanian ambuteiaj
- ambuteiajsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Russian про́бка, зато́р
- про́бка (próbka)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- зато́р (zatór)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- автомоби́льная про́бка (avtomobílʹnaja próbka)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- доро́жный зато́р (doróžnyj zatór)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Scottish Gaelic stopadh trafaig
- stopadh trafaigsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Slovak dopravná zápcha, zápcha
- dopravná zápchasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- zápchasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Spanish embotellamiento, atasco
- embotellamientosituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- atascosituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- caravanasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- colasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- filasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- presasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- tacosituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- tapónsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- trabazónsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- trancasituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- trancónsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- tráficosituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Swahili mfungamano wa magari
- mfungamano wa magarisituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Swedish bilkö, trafikstockning
- bilkösituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- trafikstockningsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Tagalog pagsisikip ng trapiko, trapik
- pagsisikip ng trapikosituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- trapiksituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Thai รถติด
- รถติด (rót-dtìt)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Turkish tıkanıklık, trafik sıkışıklığı
- tıkanıklıksituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- trafik sıkışıklığısituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Ukrainian про́бка, зато́р
- про́бка (próbka)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- зато́р (zatór)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- доро́жній зато́р (doróžnij zatór)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Urdu جمود آمد و رفت, انجماد آمد و رفت
- جمود آمد و رفت (jumūd-e-āmad-o-raft)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- انجماد آمد و رفت (injimād-e-āmad-o-raft)situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Vietnamese ách tắc giao thông, tắc đường
- ách tắc giao thôngsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- tắc đườngsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
- kẹt xesituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Welsh tagfa draffig
- tagfa draffigsituation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow
Cite this entry
APA
traffic jam. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/traffic%20jam
MLA
“traffic jam.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/traffic%20jam. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “traffic jam,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/traffic%20jam.
Source: traffic jam on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.