bottle-neck

Definition

1. Noun:
   • Narrow passage or point of congestion: "bottle-neck" refers to a narrow stretch of road or a point where the flow of traffic is restricted, causing delays or congestion.
   • Obstacle or hindrance in a process: In a figurative sense, "bottle-neck" describes a stage in a system or production process that slows down overall progress, creating a backlog or delay.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The bridge creates a bottle-neck for traffic during rush hour. (A narrow point that causes congestion.)
  • The approval process is a bottle-neck in our project timeline. (A stage that slows down progress.)

Advanced Usage

• "to become a bottle-neck": to develop into a point of congestion or delay.

  • If we don't upgrade the server, it will become a bottle-neck for the entire network. (The server will restrict the flow of data.)

• "to remove a bottle-neck": to eliminate an obstacle or improve a constrained process.

  • The company hired more staff to remove the bottle-neck in customer service. (To address the delay in service.)

Variants and Related Words

• Bottleneck (n): a common variant spelling without a hyphen, meaning the same as "bottle-neck."
  • The highway bottleneck caused long delays. (A narrow road section.)

Synonyms

• Chokepoint: a narrow passage that restricts movement.
• Hindrance: something that causes delay or obstruction.
• Constraint: a limitation or restriction in a process.

Related Idioms

• Bottleneck effect: in biology, a sharp reduction in population size that reduces genetic diversity.

  • The species experienced a bottleneck effect after the drought. (A population decline.)

• Bottleneck in production: a specific stage in manufacturing that limits overall output.

  • The assembly line has a bottle-neck at the quality check stage. (A slow step in production.)