noun · academic
congestion
/kənˈdʒes.tʃən/con·GES·tion
Band 4-5task2speaking
A situation in which too many vehicles are on the roads, causing slow movement or standstills.
Examples
“Severe congestion affects the city centre every evening.”
“Traffic congestion leads to longer travel times and more pollution.”
“Authorities are trying to reduce congestion by improving public transport.”
Band 8 sentence
“Persistent congestion in the city centre reflects a failure to integrate land use and transport planning effectively.”
Collocations
- traffic congestion
- severe congestion
- alleviate congestion
Word family
congestion nouncongested adjectivecongest verb
Common mistakes
We got congestion on the road.→There was congestion on the road.
Say it for a higher band
5jam→6traffic jam→7+congestion
Synonyms
jam
Easily confused
traffic jam
“I was stuck in a traffic jam for two hours.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In Transport & Traffic
Learn it with its set