Words / B1

BOTLN-ek/ˈbɒtlnek/

A bottleneck is a narrow point that slows traffic or a process. Delay is the result; pinch point is a close UK transport twin. Roadworks: a bottleneck on the A-road into town.

Meaning

A narrow point that slows traffic or a process.

Examples

• “Roadworks created a bottleneck on the A-road into town.”
• “A staffing bottleneck in pathology delayed cancer results, which is the process sense.”

Good to know

a bottleneck on a road / in a process. Close (roads): a pinch point. Result: a delay. Highways / NHS labs. Countable.

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