Word.ws English Dictionary

gridlock

Syllables: grid·lockUK/ˈɡɹɪdˌlɒk//ˈɡɹɪdˌlɑk/

gridlock noun: 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. Also the deliberate misspelling of girlcock and girldick.

gridlock: a condition of total, interlocking traffic congestion on the streets or highways of a crowded city,...
Image: Rgoogin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

gridlock (countable and uncountable, plural gridlocks)

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. (broadly, figuratively) Any paralysis of a complex system due to severe congestion, conflict, or deadlock.
    • But no party appeared on track to secure an absolute majority, leaving one of Europe’s largest countries headed for gridlock or political instability.2024 July 8, Adam Nossiter, Aurelien Breeden, “5 Takeaways From France’s Snap Election”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Verb

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

  1. To cause traffic congestion.

Also used as

gridlock is also the deliberate misspelling of girlcock and girldick.

gridlock meaning in Hindi, Arabic, Persian and Vietnamese

gridlock in Hindi

traffic congestion
ग्रिडलॉक griḍlŏk

gridlock in Arabic

traffic congestion
جُمُود jumūd

gridlock in Persian

traffic congestion
راهبندان râh-bandân

gridlock in Vietnamese

traffic congestion
khóa lưới

Forms of gridlock

Noun
pluralgridlocks
Verb
third-person singular presentgridlocks
present participlegridlocking
past participlegridlocked
pastgridlocked

Origin of gridlock

From grid + lock.

Words formed from gridlock

Questions about gridlock

What does gridlock mean?
Gridlock means 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.
What is gridlock in Hindi?
Gridlock in Hindi is ग्रिडलॉक (griḍlŏk). See Gridlock meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is gridlock?
Gridlock can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce gridlock?
Gridlock is pronounced /ˈɡɹɪdˌlɒk/ (UK).
What is the plural of gridlock?
The plural of gridlock is gridlocks.

Words near gridlock in the dictionary

  1. Gridley
  2. gridlike
  3. gridline
  4. gridlines
  5. gridling
  6. gridlock
  7. gridlocked
  8. gridlocking
  9. gridlocks
  10. gridpoint
  11. gridpoints

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gridlock (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-gridlock.wav.

Cite this entry: “gridlock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gridlock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.