plural bottlenecks
1
a
: a narrow route
b
: a point of traffic congestion
2
a
: someone or something that slows or halts free movement and progress
working to streamline production and eliminate bottlenecks
b
: impasse
They reached a bottleneck in the negotiations.
c
: a dramatic reduction in the size of a population (as of a species) that results in a decrease in genetic variation
3
or bottleneck guitar
: a style of guitar playing in which glissando effects are produced by sliding an object (such as a knife blade or the neck of a bottle) along the strings
bottlenecked; bottlenecking; bottlenecks
: to slow or halt by causing a bottleneck
Synonyms
Examples of bottleneck in a Sentence
Noun
Bridge construction has created a bottleneck on the southern part of Main Street.
All decisions must be approved by the committee, and this is where the company runs into bottlenecks.
Recent Examples on the Web
Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 20 May 2013
To compare pre- and post-bottleneck genetic diversity, the researchers sequenced DNA from 1,000-year-old penguin bones on the island.
—Sarah Zhang, Discover Magazine, 22 Feb. 2012
Walter Pavlo, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025
Israeli officials believe that could create a crucial bottleneck if Iran does decide to build a bomb.
—Barak Ravid, Axios, 2 Jan. 2025
Dan Perry, Newsweek, 3 Jan. 2025
In 2023, the critical physical resource bottlenecking AI growth was GPU chips.
—Rob Toews, Forbes, 22 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for bottleneck 
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Adjective
The impact of the pre-bottleneck period is attenuated, because much of the population was simply not genetically sampled.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 20 May 2013
To compare pre- and post-bottleneck genetic diversity, the researchers sequenced DNA from 1,000-year-old penguin bones on the island.
—Sarah Zhang, Discover Magazine, 22 Feb. 2012
Noun
Addressing this bottleneck is essential for realizing the cost-saving and rehabilitative potential of these laws.
—Walter Pavlo, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025
Israeli officials believe that could create a crucial bottleneck if Iran does decide to build a bomb.
—Barak Ravid, Axios, 2 Jan. 2025
Verb
The storm is also slated to take place over the weekend after a national holiday, potentially bottlenecking major airports across the country.
—Dan Perry, Newsweek, 3 Jan. 2025
In 2023, the critical physical resource bottlenecking AI growth was GPU chips.
—Rob Toews, Forbes, 22 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for bottleneck
Dictionary Entries Near bottleneck
Cite this Entry
“Bottleneck.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bottleneck. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.
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