congestion
Americannoun
-
overcrowding; clogging.
severe traffic congestion.
-
an excessive or abnormal accumulation of blood or other fluid in a body part or blood vessel.
pulmonary congestion.
noun
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the state of being overcrowded, esp with with traffic or people
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the state of being overloaded or clogged with blood
-
the state of being blocked with mucus
Other Word Forms
- noncongestion noun
- precongestion noun
- supercongestion noun
Etymology
Origin of congestion
From the Latin word congestiō, dating back to 1585–95. See congest, -ion
Explanation
When a driver complains about congestion, she's talking about the cars that are backed up on the highway. When your sneezing friend complains about congestion, he's talking about his stuffed-up nose. Use the noun congestion to talk about over-crowding; this comes up most often when people talk about traffic. If there's unexpected congestion on your route to work, you'll be late. You might also use the word to describe a crush of people: "The congestion in the subway was terrible — we were packed like sardines in there." The medical kind of congestion describes a build up of fluid, especially the kind you feel in your sinuses when you have a bad cold.
Vocabulary lists containing congestion
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Instead, it can work alongside them, handling high-capacity data traffic in indoor environments and reducing congestion on radio-based systems.
From Science Daily • Apr. 2, 2026
This large server footprint helps reduce congestion, improve connection stability and makes it easier to find a nearby server.
From Salon • Mar. 27, 2026
Rankin explained many of his constituents live under the Heathrow flight path and were worried about aircraft noise as well as traffic congestion.
From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026
Unlike cargo moving from the Atlantic Basin or the Middle East, Alaska LNG doesn’t transit through the Panama Canal and thus doesn’t face canal congestion, water-level restrictions or geopolitical turmoil during passage.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026
Flight 93, with thirty-seven passengers and seven crew members on board, had left Newark forty minutes late because of runway congestion.
From "Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story" by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
