logjam
LOG-jam
/ˈlɒɡdʒæm/
A situation that seems irresolvable; a crowded mass of logs blocking a river.
Carries a sense of 'too much stuff' causing the problem, rather than just a disagreement.
The story behind the word. From the 19th-century lumber industry. When logs were floated down rivers to mills, they would sometimes hit an obstacle and pile up into a massive, tangled mess that stopped the whole flow.
Word relationships
- bottleneck: A logjam is a messy pile-up; a bottleneck is a narrow passage.
- clearance: Clearance is the removal of the obstruction.
Commonly confused with
- gridlock: Logjam feels more like a physical pile-up of tasks or items.
Collocations
- break the logjam
- legislative logjam
- clearing the logjam
Example sentences
- "The new software was supposed to clear the logjam of unprocessed applications." Administrative backlog
- "The president is trying to break the logjam in Congress over the new tax bill." Political commentary
Memory hook
Imagine a river full of logs that are all 'jammed' together so nothing can flow. Logs piled high in a river.
When not to use
Avoid in extremely formal legal documents; 'impasse' is better there.
Fun facts
- To break a real logjam, lumberjacks sometimes had to use dynamite to blow up the 'key log' holding the mess together.
Related words
Explore more words
congestion, impasse, bottleneck, stagnation, fracas, compound
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