bottleneck

[bot-l-nek]

noun

1. a narrow entrance or passageway.

2. a place or stage in a process at which progress is impeded.

3. 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.

verb (used with object)

1. to hamper or confine by or as if by a bottleneck.

verb (used without object)

1. to become hindered by or as if by a bottleneck.

bottleneck

/ ˈbɒtəlˌnɛk /

noun

1. 1. a narrow stretch of road or a junction at which traffic is or may be held up

   2. the hold up

2. something that holds up progress, esp of a manufacturing process

3. music

   1. 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

   2. the style of guitar playing using a bottleneck

verb

1. (tr) to be or cause an obstruction in

bottleneck

1. 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.

bottleneck

1. 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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bottleneck¹

First recorded in 1895–1900; bottle ¹ + neck

Example Sentences

And there are new hotels coming to help ease that bottleneck.

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Since the introduction of ChatGPT, the computing supply chain has faced manufacturing bottlenecks as it tries to meet surging global demand.

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By September 2024, after bottlenecks and false starts, the team was ready to put the Memphis supercomputer to work training Grok, using some 42,000 Nvidia chips that had been installed.

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Dash Bio has captured new venture funding after drawing pharmaceutical customers to a platform that uses robotics to crack a bottleneck that slows drug development.

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Czinger: The printer is our main piece of equipment that could bottleneck our scale if we don’t build the supply chain the right way.

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Related Words

• barrier 
• blockage 
• congestion 
• hindrance 
• impediment 
• snag 
• traffic jam