gridlock

From grid +‎ lock.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɪdˌlɒk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɪdˌlɑk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: grid‧lock

gridlock (countable and uncountable, plural gridlocks)

2. (road transport) A condition of total, interlocking traffic congestion on the streets or highways of a crowded city, in which no one can move because everyone is in someone else's way.

   Hypernym: lock

3. On a smaller scale, the situation in which cars enter a signal-controlled intersection too late during the green light cycle, and are unable to clear the intersection (due to congestion in the next block) when the light turns red, thus blocking the cross traffic when it's their turn to go. Repeated at enough intersections, this phenomenon can lead to citywide gridlock.
4. (figuratively, by extension) Any paralysis of a complex system due to severe congestion, conflict, or deadlock.
   • 2024 July 8, Adam Nossiter, Aurelien Breeden, “5 Takeaways From France’s Snap Election”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     But no party appeared on track to secure an absolute majority, leaving one of Europe’s largest countries headed for gridlock or political instability.

6. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:) (transgender slang) Deliberate misspelling of girlcock. [from early 2020s]

• pedlock

gridlock (third-person singular simple present gridlocks, present participle gridlocking, simple past and past participle gridlocked)

1. To cause traffic congestion.

• deadlock