• 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.
• 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.
• (by extension) any paralysis of a complex system due to severe congestion, conflict, or deadlock.
• a common venereal disease caused by the treponema pallidum spirochete; symptoms change through progressive stages; can be congenital (transmitted through the placenta)
• a contagious disease characterized by purulent skin eruptions that may leave pock marks
• a frame that supports a boat while it is under construction
• a frame for constraining an animal while it is receiving veterinary attention or while being shod
• a former instrument of punishment consisting of a heavy timber frame with holes in which the feet (and sometimes the hands) of an offender could be locked
• the United States federal department that promotes and administers domestic and foreign trade (including management of the census and the patent office); created in 1913
• a bluish translucent magnetic liquid obtained by compressing gaseous oxygen and then cooling it below its boiling point; used as an oxidizer in rocket propellants
• any of various plants of the genus Althaea; similar to but having smaller flowers than genus Alcea
• any of various tall plants of the genus Alcea; native to the Middle East but widely naturalized and cultivated for its very large variously colored flowers
• European weed naturalized in southwestern United States and Mexico having reddish decumbent stems with small fernlike leaves and small deep reddish-lavender flowers followed by slender fruits that stick straight up; often grown for forage
• a solid piece of something (usually having flat rectangular sides)
• a rectangular area in a city surrounded by streets and usually containing several buildings
• a three-dimensional shape with six square or rectangular sides
• a number or quantity of related things dealt with as a unit
• housing in a large building that is divided into separate units
• (computer science) a sector or group of sectors that function as the smallest data unit permitted
• an inability to remember or think of something you normally can do; often caused by emotional tension
• a simple machine consisting of a wheel with a groove in which a rope can run to change the direction or point of application of a force applied to the rope
• a metal casting containing the cylinders and cooling ducts of an engine
• an obstruction in a pipe or tube
• a platform from which an auctioneer sells
• the act of obstructing or deflecting someone's movements
verb
• render unsuitable for passage
• hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of
• stop from happening or developing
• interfere with or prevent the reception of signals
• run on a block system
• interrupt the normal function of by means of anesthesia
• shut out from view or get in the way so as to hide from sight
• stamp or emboss a title or design on a book with a block
Note: This list has been curated by our developer and author and fine-tuned since 2016 with manual additions, exclusions and rankings. Thousands of user contributions from rappers, singers, songwriters and poets have also been used for accuracy.
