jammed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of jam.

   Stalled cars jammed the highway for miles after the accident.

   The old lock jammed and refused to turn no matter how hard she pushed.

   Note

   The final m doubles before -ed, and one spelling serves both the simple past (the lock jammed) and the participle (was jammed, has jammed). The verb behind it ranges widely: forcing something into a space, blocking a radio or radar signal, causing congestion (often jammed up), and in baseball, jamming a batter with a pitch thrown at or near the hands.

2. 2
   adjective

   Stuck fast and unable to move, open, or operate because something is wedged or blocking it.

   The bolt was completely jammed, so the carpenter had to drill it out.

   A jammed valve prevented the tank from draining properly.

   Similarstuck, wedged, frozen, locked, immovable

   Oppositefree, loose

   Note

   Two things can be jammed at once here: the mechanism and whatever is stuck in it. The printer is jammed, and so is the paper caught inside it. The word pairs naturally with a word for the result or position (jammed shut, jammed between two rocks), and it reaches the body too, in a jammed finger or toe.

3. 3
   adjective

   Filled to overflowing with people or things crowded tightly together; congested.

   Downtown streets were jammed for hours after the concert let out.

   The stadium was jammed well beyond its usual attendance.

   Similarpacked, rammed

   Oppositeempty, deserted, clear, uncrowded

   Note

   Here the problem is crowding, not one stuck part. Roads, routes and beer tents are jammed, and what fills them follows with "with": hopelessly jammed with cars and mobile homes. Intensifiers such as heavily and hopelessly sit comfortably in front of it. Jam-packed, rammed and packed to the gills push the same picture further, toward the point where not one more body would fit.

4. 4
   adjective

   Made unusable by deliberate interference, especially a radio, radar, or communications signal.

   Like static drowning out a station until you can't make out the music.

   The military channel was jammed by hostile transmitters during the operation.

   Air traffic frequencies were jammed, leaving pilots unable to communicate.

   Similarblocked, scrambled, disrupted

   Oppositeclear

   Note

   The interference is the weapon: a stronger signal sent on the same frequency, so the intended one can no longer be picked out. It is the broadcast or programming that gets jammed, not the listener's set. Because the aim is to keep a message from its audience, the workaround may leave the airwaves entirely, as when jammed programming travels on USB sticks instead.

Showing meanings only. Show all 4