gridlock

n.

1. A traffic jam in which no vehicular movement is possible, especially one caused by the blockage of key intersections within a grid of streets.
2. A complete lack of movement or progress resulting in a backup or stagnation: "the political gridlock that prevented ... the President and Congress from moving expeditiously to cut the budget" (Robert D. Hormats).

gridlock grid'lock' v.
gridlocked grid'locked' adj.

A government, business or institution's inability to function at a normal level due either to complex or conflicting procedures within the administrative framework or to impending change in the business.

Investopedia Says:
In business as in traffic, little to nothing gets done when gridlock happens. This can be highly problematic and costly for a company or industry. For example, gridlock can occur if there is infighting within a company, with two groups competing to gain control of the company. This infighting can effectively create a situation in which business transactions cannot be completed until the problem is solved.

Related Links:
Learn about how the way a company keeps its management in check can affect the bottom line. Governance Pays
Learn what corporate restructuring is, why companies do it and why it sometimes doesn't work. The Basics Of Mergers And Acquisitions
Do you want your company to sandbag or greenmail? Welcome to the dramatic world of mergers and acquisitions. The Wacky World of M&As

noun

A cessation of normal activity, caused by an accident or strike, for example: immobilization, jam, stoppage, tie-up. See continue/stop/pause.

Origin: 1980

Thanks to traffic engineers, we are no longer stuck for a word about getting stuck. It's gridlock, where the flow of traffic through the grid of intersecting streets is locked into immobility. In a city, this happens when cars cannot clear an intersection after the lights have changed. On highways, too many cars trying to enter an already full road may have the same effect. The New York Times Magazine introduced the word to nonspecialists in 1980: "'gridlock' is to highway engineers what 'meltdown' is to nuclear engineers--a panic inside a nightmare inside a worst case. Instead of going with the traffic flow, everything stops and every frenzied driver leans on his horn."

It was too good a word to leave to the engineers. By the early 1980s, any kind of complete stoppage or jam could be called gridlock, and the resulting terms ranged from telephone gridlock (1984), used when overcrowded telephone lines give everyone a busy signal, and corporate gridlock (1985), when a corporation is stuck in its traditional ways, to vocal gridlock (1983), the condition of being too frightened to speak, rare in our talkative world. Politicians have made the most of gridlock, including legislative gridlock (1982), when a divided legislature is unable to act, and government gridlock (1995), when the president and Congress shut down the federal government because they are at odds.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - hårdknude, trafikprop

Nederlands (Dutch)
file die een hele buurt stillegt, patstelling

Français (French)
n. - (lit) embouteillage, bouchon, (fig) impasse

Deutsch (German)
n. - Verkehrsstau, völliger Stillstand

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (καθομ.) ακινητοποίηση, μπέρδεμα

Italiano (Italian)
ingorgo, intoppo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - congestionamento (m)

Русский (Russian)
большая автомобильная пробка

Español (Spanish)
n. - congestión de tráfico

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - trafikkaos, sammanbrott

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
交通堵塞, 僵局

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 交通堵塞, 僵局

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 자동차 교통망의 정체

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 交通渋滞

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ازدحام سير شديد‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אחיזת-חנק, פקק תנועה‬

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