logjam

[lawg-jam, log-]

noun

1. an immovable pileup or tangle of logs, log, as in a river, causing a blockage.

2. any blockage or massive accumulation.

   a logjam of bills before Congress.

Word History and Origins

Origin of logjam¹

First recorded in 1880–85; log ¹ + jam ¹

Example Sentences

This flight-tracking app can help you navigate all those cancellations, delays and logjams.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The hope would be that allowing for loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could help ease housing logjams caused by dramatic changes in home financing costs.

Read more on Barron's

To break the logjam, centrist Democrats and Republicans are discussing not just a so-called continuing resolution that would fund the government in the short term but also long-term bipartisan spending bills to fund certain agencies.

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The investment may finally break a logjam that has kept America from building new nuclear plants for decades.

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That signing created a logjam in the outfield.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• lag 
• moratorium 
• postponement 
• problem 
• setback 
• stoppage 
• suspension 
• wait