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

We’re seeing an astronomical rise in shipping rates, a dramatic lengthening of transit times and a logjam of cargo at every port.

From Washington Post

Though short on money, the proposed infrastructure bill does address approval logjams.

From MIT Technology Review

Adam Piore examines why brilliant ideas that should succeed sometimes get stuck, and how a crisis like covid-19 may help break the logjam.

From MIT Technology Review

The Kingston spill broke a long-standing logjam in Washington.

From ProPublica

Yet this minuscule improvement breaks through both a theoretical logjam and a psychological one.

From Quanta Magazine

But what he could not answer was how he would break the political logjam in Congress.

From The Daily Beast

As the story that broke the logjam, "Birthday Boy" is a fascinating read.

From The Daily Beast

But with a bipartisan alliance of radicals in Washington, the logjam of political dysfunction will finally be broken.

From The Daily Beast

If you let somebody logjam the process, then it becomes a big problem at the end.

From The Daily Beast

And he had broken ground on Porto Açu, a massive deepwater port meant to break the logjam of Brazilian shipping.

From The Daily Beast

Rather wud I have perished in a logjam thin to've indured this ingratichood.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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