jam

1 a crowded mass (as of cars) that impedes or blocks movement thousands of cars trying to leave the stadium's parking lot at the same time are sure to create a jam Synonyms of jam backup, bottleneck, jam-up, logjam, snarl, tailback [British], tie-up Words Related to jam tangle; gridlock, lock; congestion, traffic; crawl, delay, slowdown, stoppage

2 a difficult, puzzling, or embarrassing situation from which there is no easy escape the heavy rain puts us in a real jam: all of the preparations are for a garden wedding Synonyms of jam bind, box, catch-22, corner, dilemma, fix, hole, impasse, jackpot [chiefly West], predicament, mire, pickle, quagmire, rabbit hole, rattrap, spot, sticky wicket, swampWords Related to jam difficulty, node; hot water, soup; pinch, plight, quandary, scrape, trouble; deadlock, halt, logjam, stalemate, standstill; clutch, crisis, crossroad, emergency, exigency, juncture, strait

1 to fit (people or things) into a tight space jammed his clothes into the already bulging hamper Synonyms of jam cram, crush, crowd, ram, sandwich, shoehorn, squeeze, stuff, wedgeWords Related to jam fill, heap, jam-pack, load, pack

2 to prevent passage through by filling with something firefighters found the nightclub's doorways jammed with trapped patrons Synonyms of jam block, choke, clot, congest, dam, gum (up), clog, obstruct, occlude, plug (up), stop (up), stuffWords Related to jam bung, cork, spile, stopper, stopple; fill, gridlock, pack; fur, silt; flood, glut, inundate, overwhelm, swampNear Antonyms of jam excavate, hollow (out), scoop (out); empty, lightenAntonyms of jam clear, free, open (up), unblock, unclog, unplug, unstop

3 to put into (something) as much as can be held or contained the inn will jam a guest's picnic basket with an array of tempting foods Synonyms of jam brim, charge, cram, heap, fill, jam-pack, load, pack, stuffWords Related to jam drench, flood, glut, swamp; bloat, bulk; crowd, crush, mat, press, ram, shove, squash, squeeze; refill, refresh, reload, repack, replenish; overcharge, overfill, overflow, saturate; honeycomb, penetrateNear Antonyms of jam lighten; deplete, drain, eliminate, exhaust; bleed, draw (off); clean, flush, purge, scour, sweepAntonyms of jam clear, empty, evacuate, vacate, void

4 to force one's way several more people jammed into the bus even though there was hardly room to stand Synonyms of jam bore, bull, bulldoze, crash, elbow, press, jostle, muscle, push, shoulder, squeezeWords Related to jam ram, shove, thrust