Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

traffic jam

American  

noun

  • traffic jams
    plural
  1. jam.


traffic jam British  

noun

  1. a number of vehicles so obstructed that they can scarcely move

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

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.

See Examples For:

The risk of relying on one artery for so much trade was underscored after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when the bridge was temporarily closed and trucks idled in a miles-long traffic jam.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 26, 2026

A circulation pattern over Europe is creating "the equivalent of a traffic jam in the atmosphere which locks in heat", Samantha Burgess from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, told AFP.

From Barron's Jun. 23, 2026

"But we don't yet know whether the action that starts the ridge just isn't happening or whether the traffic jam afterward isn't happening," he said.

From Science Daily Mar. 27, 2026

"It's not like a traffic jam that becomes chaotic."

From BBC Mar. 15, 2026

“Or, ‘If I have to sit five more minutes in this traffic jam, I’ll simply explode’?”

From "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 12,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training