bottleneck
a narrow entrance or passageway.
a place or stage in a process at which progress is impeded.
Also called slide guitar. a method of guitar playing that produces a gliding sound by pressing a metal bar or glass tube against the strings.
to hamper or confine by or as if by a bottleneck.
to become hindered by or as if by a bottleneck.
Origin of bottleneck
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use bottleneck in a sentence
The scale of a Covid-19 vaccination campaign could also create other bottlenecks.
If you save time and money for developers, you’ll get more housing constructed, and that’s where the bottleneck has been.
Faulconer ‘Changed the Dialogue’ on Housing, But Results Remain Elusive | Andrew Keatts | December 10, 2020 | Voice of San DiegoSo the vaccines need to be supplied and administered efficiently to ensure they reach the public without any waste or bottlenecks in the supply chain.
See how COVID-19 vaccines will get to your neighborhood | By Bahar Aliakbarian/The Conversation | December 9, 2020 | Popular-ScienceSuch policies create a bottleneck in the counting process and draw it out until well past Election Day, extending the window during which election disinformation could spread.
Voters should resist blaming every election glitch on political interference | Amy Nordrum | October 29, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewBefore the fix, she estimated it was taking three to five more minutes more than usual to “process voters as they came through,” a problem that created a bottleneck of voters as poll workers tried to get through the crowds.
Overloaded voter check-in system partly blamed for long early voting lines in Georgia | Paulina Firozi | October 15, 2020 | Washington Post
British Dictionary definitions for bottleneck
/ (ˈbɒtəlˌnɛk) /
a narrow stretch of road or a junction at which traffic is or may be held up
the hold up
something that holds up progress, esp of a manufacturing process
music
the broken-off neck of a bottle placed over a finger and used to produce a buzzing effect in a style of guitar-playing originally part of the American blues tradition
the style of guitar playing using a bottleneck
(tr) US to be or cause an obstruction in
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for bottleneck
[ bŏt′l-nĕk′ ]
An abrupt and severe reduction in the number of individuals during the history of a species, resulting in the loss of diversity from the gene pool. The generations following the bottleneck are more genetically homogenous than would otherwise be expected. Bottlenecks often occur in consequence of a catastrophic event.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for bottleneck
The point at which an industry or economic system has to slow its growth because one or more of its components cannot keep up with demand.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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