snarl-up
Chaotic road jam
A snarl-up is a tangle or confused mess, especially a traffic jam: A snarl-up on the motorway delayed us for hours.
More common in British than American English.
The term extends to any situation where things become knotted or stalled: a snarl-up in the negotiations, a bureaucratic snarl-up.
Complete mutual obstruction
- congestionExcessive accumulation causing blockage
- bottleneckConstriction limiting throughput
- tailbackCongested vehicle queue
- jamCooked fruit spread
bumper-to-bumper · standstill · holdup · backup · logjam · roadblock · pile-up · delay
gridlock
Complete mutual obstruction
- congestionExcessive accumulation causing blockage
- bottleneckConstriction limiting throughput
- tailbackCongested vehicle queue
jam · bumper-to-bumper · standstill · holdup · backup · logjam · roadblock · pile-up · delay · rush hour
- delaysdelays, delay, delayed, postponement, postpone
- traffictraffic jam, congestion, traffic, gridlock, traffic congestion
- slowing downbraking, brakes, crawl, coasts, creep
snarl-upfree flow
Unhindered continuous movement
open road · clear sailing · smooth sailing · green lights · light traffic
snarl-uporder
Methodical arrangement or request
seamless flow · efficiency · organization · clarity · orderliness
snarl, snarled, snarling, unsnarl, snarly, unsnarled, snarl-ups