jam (1) — OAT

jam1

verb

1 he jammed a finger in each ear:

stuff, shove, force, ram, thrust, wedge, press, push, stick, squeeze, compress, confine, cram, pack, sandwich, insert.

2 several hundred friends and celebrities jammed into the shop | students soon jammed the streets:

crowd, pack, pile, press, squeeze, cram;

throng, occupy, fill, overfill, overcrowd;

obstruct, block, clog, congest;

North American mob.

3 the rudder had jammed:

stick, become stuck, catch, seize (up), become immobilized, become unable to move, become fixed, become wedged, become lodged, become trapped.

4 even dust could jam the mechanism:

immobilize, paralyze, disable, cripple;

deactivate, put out of action, make inoperative;

stop, halt, bring to a halt, bring to a standstill.

▷antonyms free.

noun

1 a traffic jam:

tailback, line, stream, holdup, obstruction, congestion, bottleneck, stoppage;

North American gridlock;

British, informal snarl-up.

2 informal I'd tell you if we ever got into a real jam:

predicament, plight, tricky situation, ticklish situation, awkward situation, spot of trouble, bit of bother, difficulty, problem, puzzle, quandary, dilemma, muddle, mess, quagmire, mire, imbroglio, mare's nest, dire straits;

with nowhere to turn;

West Indian comess;

informal pickle, stew, sticky situation, fix, hole, scrape, bind, (tight) spot, (tight) corner, fine kettle of fish, how-do-you-do, hot water, deep water;

British, informal spot of bother.