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Synonyms

jam-up

American  
[jam-uhp] / ˈdʒæmˌʌp /

noun

  1. a stoppage or slowing of motion, work, or the like, due to obstruction, overloading, malfunction, or inefficiency; jam.

    Your letters didn't go out yesterday because there was a jam-up in the mail room.

Etymology

Origin of jam-up

First recorded in 1940–45; noun use of verb phrase jam up

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.

Also, millions will watch a 13-player jam-up on Sunday for the pure — U.S.

From Washington Post • Jun. 17, 2017

For many companies, the jam-up has had an unnerving effect.

From Time Magazine Archive

With 18,000 U.S. employees, Time Inc. suffers along with many other firms from the snarls on roadways and runways that bring the nation ever closer to the ultimate jam-up.

From Time Magazine Archive

Although they fly thousands of miles away from the U.S., the Maltese pilots found themselves in an almost daily radio jam-up because airliner controllers in Atlanta, Ga., were broadcasting on their frequency.

From Time Magazine Archive

"No, not an intimate, but he was in my class—and he's a whacking, jam-up, ace-high football player."

From The Chase of the Golden Plate by Futrelle, Jacques

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.