Meaning & use
tailback
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableBritish
A long line of vehicles that are moving very slowly or not at all, usually because of an accident or roadworks ahead.
Grammar: Countable: use a tailback, the tailback, tailbacks. Often followed by on a road or between places.
Patterns
- a tailback on something
- tailbacks between places
There was a five-mile tailback on the motorway after a lorry overturned.
We sat in a tailback for over an hour and missed the ferry.
Tailbacks are likely between junctions 6 and 8 during the morning rush.
nouncountableAmericansport
In American football, a player who runs with the ball and usually lines up behind the quarterback and farthest from the line of scrimmage.
Grammar: Countable: a tailback, the tailback, tailbacks. Used in American football contexts.
Patterns
- a tailback for a team
- hand the ball to the tailback
The tailback took the handoff and sprinted twenty yards downfield.
He was the team's leading tailback for three seasons.
The coach switched to a two-tailback formation to strengthen the running game.
Word forms
| plural | tailbacks |
|---|
Common combinations
- a tailback on the motorway
- A tailback on the motorway stretched back for miles.
- sit in a tailback
- We sat in a tailback for forty minutes.
- cause tailbacks
- The roadworks caused tailbacks all week.
- a five-mile tailback
- A five-mile tailback formed after the crash.
- hand the ball to the tailback
- The quarterback handed the ball to the tailback.
Synonyms and how they differ
- traffic jam
- A more general term for any situation where traffic cannot move; tailback specifically suggests a long line stretching back from a point.
- gridlock
- Use gridlock when traffic is so bad that nothing can move at all; a tailback may still creep forward slowly.
- queue
- Queue is British and can mean any line of people or vehicles; tailback is only for traffic on a road.
Commonly confused: tailback or tailgate?
tailback vs tailgate
Tailgate is the back door of a vehicle or the act of driving too closely behind another car; tailback is the line of slow traffic itself.
Practice
After the accident, a long ______ formed on the motorway.
Choose one answer.
A tailback is a long line of slow or stopped traffic. Tailgate is a vehicle door or a driving behavior, turnout is a place to leave the road, and toll is a fee for using a road.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tailback”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.