tie-up

1 of 2

noun

ˈtī-ˌəp 

1

: a slowdown or stoppage of traffic, business, or operation (as by a mechanical breakdown)

2

: connection, association

helpful financial tie-ups

3

a

: a cow stable

also : a space for a single cow in a stable

b

: a mooring place for a boat

tie up

2 of 2

verb

tied up; tying up or tieing up; ties up

transitive verb

1

: to attach, fasten, or bind securely

also : to wrap up and fasten

2

a

: to connect closely : join

tie up the loose ends

b

: to cause to be linked so as to depend on or relate to something

3

a

: to place or invest in such a manner as to make unavailable for other purposes

their money was tied up in stocks

b

: to restrain from normal movement, operation, or progress

traffic was tied up for miles

4

a

: to keep busy

was tied up in conference all day

b

: to preempt the use of

tied up the phone for an hour

intransitive verb

1

: dock entry 2

the ferry ties up at the south slip

2

: to assume a definite relationship

this ties up with what I told you before

Synonyms of tie-up

Noun

• jam
• snarl
• congestion

Verb

• impede
• hinder
• hamper
• embarrass
• obstruct
• hold back
• handicap

Examples of tie-up in a Sentence

Noun

a tie-up at the junction of Main and Central has slowed traffic to a crawl

in a tie-up with the film studio, the toy company is producing a whole line of figures featuring characters from the animated movie

Verb

an accident is tying up traffic at 5th and Broadway

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Sports apparel and footwear maker Adidas‘ tie-up with English band Oasis winning the top prize in the Entertainment Lions category. — Todd Spangler, Variety, 26 June 2026

Amid growing doubts about whether AI companies can turn a profit, the company is now hunting for new revenue, experimenting with ads inside ChatGPT and e-commerce tie-ups with Shopify and Stripe, while paring back money-losing ventures including its Sora video app. — Alicia Park, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026

Verb

If city agencies coordinated security, traffic planning or other logistics for an event that never took place there, critics could question whether public resources were unnecessarily tied up during one of New York's busiest holiday weekends. — Bryan West, USA Today, 1 July 2026

As the escape-room activity kicks off — the guests have 30 minutes to find Aesha’s crew — the boys find plenty of opportunity to make insinuating jokes about tying up the girls, some (Coop) more wholesome than others (Luke). — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 30 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1851, in the meaning defined at sense 3a

Verb

1530, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Rhymes for tie-up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup

Kids Definition

tie-up

1 of 2 noun

ˈtī-ˌəp

1

: a slowing or stopping especially of traffic or business

2

: connection sense 2, association

tie up

2 of 2 verb

(ˈ)tī-ˈəp

1

: to fasten securely

2

a

: to use in such a manner as not to be available for other purposes

money tied up in stocks

b

: to keep from working or going

traffic was tied up for hours

3

: to have a relationship with something else

this ties up with what you said before