gridlocked

adjective

grid·​locked ˈgrid-ˌläkt 

: affected by gridlock : brought to a state in which movement or progress is stopped completely

gridlocked streets

a gridlocked legislature

The Phoenix of 1996 has terrible air, gridlocked traffic, and spreads out in so many directions that it seems to lack any sense of order.

—Timothy Egan

… the notion of an incompetent, gridlocked government is still embedded in the national consciousness.

—Andrew Sullivan

Examples of gridlocked in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Traffic remained gridlocked for more than three hours as emergency services worked at the scene. —Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 27 Jan. 2026

Both narrator and listener have died and are now in purgatory, stuck in gridlocked traffic in a tunnel, at the end of which a bright light beckons. —Literary Hub, 14 Jan. 2026

While great powers remain gridlocked, middle powers can advance reformist agendas. —Ekrem Imamoglu, Foreign Affairs, 11 Dec. 2025

The family also walks everywhere instead of wrestling with car seats or bracing for gridlocked traffic. —Daniella Gray, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1980, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for gridlocked

• overstocked
• balked
• blocked
• chalked
• clocked
• cocked
• docked
• flocked
• hawked
• knocked
• locked
• mocked