Meaning & use
bumper-to-bumper traffic
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountableinformal
A line of vehicles so close together that they are barely moving.
Grammar: Not used with an or an: we sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Patterns
- be stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic
- bumper-to-bumper traffic on something
We spent two hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the highway.
The accident left bumper-to-bumper traffic for miles.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic is normal here on Friday evenings.
Common combinations
- stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic
- She was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the bridge.
- sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic
- We sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic all morning.
- crawl through bumper-to-bumper traffic
- Buses crawl through bumper-to-bumper traffic downtown.
- bumper-to-bumper traffic on the highway
- There was bumper-to-bumper traffic on the highway.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gridlock
- Gridlock means traffic has stopped completely, while bumper-to-bumper traffic may still be moving slowly.
- congestion
- Congestion is a more formal and general word for too much traffic, with no image of cars touching.
- traffic jam
- A traffic jam is a countable event, while bumper-to-bumper traffic describes the condition and is uncountable.
- tailback
- A tailback is the British word for the queue of vehicles behind a hold-up, and it describes only the queue itself.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: bumper-to-bumper traffic or gridlock?
bumper-to-bumper traffic vs gridlock
Gridlock means nothing can move because roads are blocked in all directions, while bumper-to-bumper traffic just means close and slow.
Practice
We were late because we were stuck in ___ on the way to the airport.
Choose one answer.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic is heavy, slow traffic that would make you late. Light traffic and an empty road would not.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bumper-to-bumper traffic”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.