different between gridlock vs tailback

English

Etymology

From grid +? lock.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /????d?l?k/, /????d?l?k/
• (US) IPA^(key): /????d?l?k/
• Hyphenation: grid?lock

Noun

gridlock (countable and uncountable, plural gridlocks)

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. (figuratively, by extension) any paralysis of a complex system due to severe congestion, conflict, or deadlock.

Hypernyms

• lock

Translations

Verb

gridlock (third-person singular simple present gridlocks, present participle gridlocking, simple past and past participle gridlocked)

1. To cause traffic congestion.

See also

• deadlock

References

• gridlock on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Etymology

tail +? back

Noun

tailback (plural tailbacks)

1. (Britain) A line of motor vehicles causing or the result of traffic congestion or a traffic jam.

   Synonym: backup (US)

   • 2013, Simon Jenkins, Gibraltar and the Falklands deny the logic of history (in The Guardian, 14 August 2013)[1]

     The idea of a British warship supposedly menacing Spain is ludicrous. Is it meant to bomb Cadiz? Will its guns lift a rush-hour tailback in a colony that most Britons regard as awash with tax dodgers, drug dealers and right-wing whingers? The Gibraltarians have rights, but why British taxpayers should send warships to enforce them, even if just "on exercise", is a mystery.

2. (American football) A running back or halfback who lines up furthest to the rear in an I formation.

Translations