congestion

/kənˈdʒɛstʃən/

/kənˈdʒɛstʃɪn/

Other forms: congestions

When a driver complains about congestion, she's talking about the cars that are backed up on the highway. When your sneezing friend complains about congestion, he's talking about his stuffed-up nose.

Use the noun congestion to talk about over-crowding; this comes up most often when people talk about traffic. If there's unexpected congestion on your route to work, you'll be late. You might also use the word to describe a crush of people: "The congestion in the subway was terrible — we were packed like sardines in there." The medical kind of congestion describes a build up of fluid, especially the kind you feel in your sinuses when you have a bad cold.

Definitions of congestion

1. noun

   excessive crowding
   “traffic congestion”

   synonyms: over-crowding

   type of:

   crowding

   a situation in which people or things are crowded together
2. noun

   excessive accumulation of blood or other fluid in a body part
   types:

   hydrothorax

   accumulation of fluid in the pleural cavity (the space between the lungs and the walls of the chest) often resulting from disease of the heart or kidneys

   haemothorax, hemothorax

   accumulation of blood in the pleural cavity (the space between the lungs and the walls of the chest)

   hyperaemia, hyperemia

   increased blood in an organ or other body part

   pulmonary congestion

   congestion in the lungs

   stuffiness

   state of obstruction or stoppage or air in the nose or throat

   engorgement

   congestion with blood

   type of:

   symptom

   (medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease