as in jam
a crowded mass (as of cars) that impedes or blocks movement
a bottleneck inevitably forms at the start of a construction zone when the highway narrows from three to two lanes
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in linear
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
as in to dam
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Recent Examples of bottleneck
Alexa Lomonaco, CNBC, 23 Apr. 2026
Games like Space Engineers and Surviving Mars also do a great job of simulating energy bottlenecks; one of the major challenges of powering a real moon base isn't so much generating enough power as delivering it efficiently and reliably.
—Alan Bradley, Space.com, 22 Apr. 2026
Shubham Yewale, PC Magazine, 23 Sep. 2025
Given their constraints, the most plausible near-term roles are simple, repetitive, or hazardous tasks in structured spaces, moving totes, staging parts, and monitoring routine operations, where their slower pace or limited dexterity won’t bottleneck the entire line.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 10 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bottleneck
Noun
The Strait of Hormuz effectively shut down in early March at the onset of the Iran war, triggering a major bottleneck in global energy and petrochemical flows.
—Alexa Lomonaco, CNBC, 23 Apr. 2026
Games like Space Engineers and Surviving Mars also do a great job of simulating energy bottlenecks; one of the major challenges of powering a real moon base isn't so much generating enough power as delivering it efficiently and reliably.
—Alan Bradley, Space.com, 22 Apr. 2026
Verb
The real-world difference is how snappy everything feels when your storage doesn’t bottleneck your system.
—Shubham Yewale, PC Magazine, 23 Sep. 2025
Given their constraints, the most plausible near-term roles are simple, repetitive, or hazardous tasks in structured spaces, moving totes, staging parts, and monitoring routine operations, where their slower pace or limited dexterity won’t bottleneck the entire line.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 10 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bottleneck
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bottleneck
Noun
-
Many of the major players during the formative years of psychedelia and jam-rock during the 1960s and ‘70s had bluegrass somewhere in their foundation — Grateful Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Moby Grape.—
Randy McMullen,
Mercury News,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Jam cakes are a popular vintage recipe from all over the South, but the type of jam is usually dependent on what's fresh in the area.—
Kaitlyn Yarborough,
Southern Living,
30 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The industrial system of Chicago’s water management — invisible and linear extraction, consumption and disposal of our water resources — is rapidly approaching its limits.—
Alaina Harkness,
Chicago Tribune,
3 May 2026
-
Paglen’s ideas, collected between two covers, carve a clean, linear path through our messy neural era, engaging in the kind of big-picture sense-making that books remain well suited to do, even as AI encroaches on this terrain.—
Louis Bury,
ARTnews.com,
1 May 2026
Verb
-
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asked experts to study what happened at the Edenville and Sanford dams.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
23 Apr. 2026
-
Then, about 20,000 years ago the Laurentide continental glacier moved into the area, pushing rocks, soil, and other debris, eventually damming Pine Creek and forming an expansive lake.—
Anthony Fredericks,
Travel + Leisure,
12 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Though the intent is to ease congestion on a highly trafficked portion of the interstate, neighborhood and citywide groups oppose the project after maps revealed neighborhoods in historically Black parts of town could lose homes.—
Nick Sullivan,
Charlotte Observer,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Let’s address emissions and street congestion.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Shively said debris and litter are the main culprit when the drainage systems are clogged.—
Dylan Lysen,
Kansas City Star,
29 Apr. 2026
-
The bus is for everyone, and every person on that bus represents one less vehicle clogging our roadways.—
Mary Tomolonius,
Hartford Courant,
29 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Allen's lawyers further argued that the conditions hinder him from participating in his defense.—
James Powel,
USA Today,
3 May 2026
-
Columbia Business School professor Gernot Wagner said more Americans will ultimately adopt EVs despite the roadblocks that are hindering ownership.—
Morgan Korn,
ABC News,
3 May 2026
Adjective
-
The processing element tiles operate on compressed matrices, eliminating all unnecessary and ineffectual computation.—
Olivia Hsu,
IEEE Spectrum,
28 Apr. 2026
-
The push to move forward has the support of both the White House and many in the press corps, even as organizers face the challenge of reassembling the event under heightened security concerns and a compressed timeline.—
Mabinty Quarshie,
The Washington Examiner,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Gas prices can vary widely, even from block to block.—
Liz Knueven,
CNBC,
2 May 2026
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Heavy encrustations of golden mussels have blocked pipes in municipal and industrial water intakes, which has necessitated costly biofouling removal.—
Julia Jacobo,
ABC News,
1 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bottleneck.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bottleneck. Accessed 4 May. 2026.
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