American English pronunciation

How to pronounce bottleneck

IPA transcription: ['bɑtəl,nɛk]

Hear “bottleneck” pronounced

['bɑtəl,nɛk]

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['bɑtəl,nɛk]

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['bɑtəl,nɛk]

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Noun

  • a narrowing that reduces the flow through a channel

  • the narrow part of a bottle near the top

Verb

  • slow down or impede by creating an obstruction

    “His laziness has bottlenecked our efforts to reform the system”

  • become narrow, like a bottleneck

    “Right by the bridge, the road bottlenecks”

Usage examples

  • The town was once a major traffic bottleneck.
  • Bottlenecks may need to be taken into account when scheduling.
  • The three interchanges work together by eliminating bottlenecks caused by redundant interchanges.
  • Network theory was found recently useful to identify bottlenecks in city traffic.
  • Other research has cast doubt on a link between Toba and a genetic bottleneck.
  • These reflections also act as bottlenecks, preventing the signal power from reaching the destination.