gridlock

From grid +‎ lock.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɪdˌlɒk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɪdˌlɑk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: grid‧lock

gridlock (countable and uncountable, plural gridlocks)

2. (road transport) A condition of total, interlocking traffic congestion on the streets or highways of a crowded city, in which no one can move because everyone is in someone else's way.

   Hypernym: lock

3. On a smaller scale, the situation in which cars enter a signal-controlled intersection too late during the green light cycle, and are unable to clear the intersection (due to congestion in the next block) when the light turns red, thus blocking the cross traffic when it's their turn to go. Repeated at enough intersections, this phenomenon can lead to citywide gridlock.
4. (figuratively, by extension) Any paralysis of a complex system due to severe congestion, conflict, or deadlock.
   • 2024 July 8, Adam Nossiter, Aurelien Breeden, “5 Takeaways From France’s Snap Election”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     But no party appeared on track to secure an absolute majority, leaving one of Europe’s largest countries headed for gridlock or political instability.

6. (transgender slang) Deliberate misspelling of girlcock or girldick. [from early 2020s]
   • 2021 November 13, @Nartemis117, Twitter‎^[2] (post), X Corp., archived from the original on 2 September 2025:

     God, ngl, some gridlock sounds real good right about now (iykyk)

   • 2022 January 22, @Andtheirva, Twitter‎^[3] (post), X Corp., archived from the original on 2 September 2025:

     Why are we still here? Just to suffer? Every night, I can feel my gridlock... And my girldick... even my shenis... The body I've lost... the comrades I've lost... won't stop hurting... It's like they're all still there.

   • 2022 March 18, @stonewall1312, Twitter‎^[4] (post), X Corp., archived from the original on 2 September 2025:

     pros of dating me : im cute and nice and i have an integra, my gridlock is perfectly sized ¶ cons of dating me: i WILL leave all my misc car parts, video game accessories, milsurp equipment, and cute girl clothes in your room. this is non-negotionable. this is where it goes now.

   • 2023 March 20, @socalledcharlie, Twitter‎^[5] (post), X Corp., archived from the original on 2 September 2025:

     Making my girlfriend print out a cute pic of my gridlock so she doesn’t forget what it looks like while she’s away from me.

   • 2023 November 25, @marufawks, X (formerly Twitter)‎^[6] (post), X Corp., archived from the original on 2 September 2025:

     Tattoo on my gridlock that says twink death

   • 2024 March 7, @TheTunnelingCat, X (formerly Twitter)‎^[7] (post), X Corp., archived from the original on 2 September 2025:

     […] thalia is a lesbian that dated a trans girl once and got a taste of gridlock and now is exclusively a chaser for trans girls

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:gridlock.

• pedlock

gridlock (third-person singular simple present gridlocks, present participle gridlocking, simple past and past participle gridlocked)

1. To cause traffic congestion.

• deadlock