Word Study
bottleneck
CIDE DICTIONARY
bottleneck,
- a location or situation in which otherwise rapid progress is impeded. [PJC]
- a point at which road traffic slows due to congestion or narrowing of the roadway. [PJC]
- an impasse. [PJC]
- a narrowing. [WordNet 1.5]
bottleneck, v. t.
same as obstruct; as, his laziness has bottlenecked our efforts to reform the system. [WordNet 1.5]
bottleneck, v. i.
to become narrower as one approaches a point; -- said of roads; as, right by the bridge, the road bottlenecks. [WordNet 1.5]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
bottleneck, n.
1 a point at which the flow of traffic, production, etc., is constricted.
2 a narrow place causing constriction.
1 a point at which the flow of traffic, production, etc., is constricted.
2 a narrow place causing constriction.
THESAURUS
bottleneck
abbreviation, approach, astriction, astringency, asymptote, bar, barrier, blank wall, blind alley, blind gut, block, blockade, blockage, canal, catch, cecum, cervix, channel, choking, choking off, circumscription, clog, coarctation, collision course, compactedness, compaction, compression, compressure, concentralization, concentration, concourse, concurrence, condensation, confluence, conflux, congestion, congress, consolidation, constipation, constriction, constringency, contraction, contracture, convergence, converging, cordon, costiveness, crossing, cul-de-sac, curtailment, curtain, dead end, decrease, defile, determent, deterrent, difficulty, diminuendo, drawback, embolism, embolus, focalization, focus, funnel, gorge, hang-up, hazard, hitch, hourglass, hourglass figure, hub, hurdle, impasse, impediment, infarct, infarction, isthmus, jam, joker, knitting, meeting, mutual approach, narrow, narrow place, narrowing, narrowing gap, narrows, neck, objection, obstacle, obstipation, obstruction, obstructive, one small difficulty, pass, puckering, pursing, radius, reduction, rub, sealing off, shortening, snag, solidification, spokes, stop, stoppage, strait, stranglement, strangulation, striction, stricture, stumbling block, stumbling stone, systole, tangent, throat, wasp waist, wrinklingFor further exploring for "bottleneck" in Webster Dictionary Online