jam

/dʒæm/

/dʒæm/

Other forms: jammed; jams; jamming

To jam is to squeeze something tightly into a space, the way your friends might jam themselves into your tiny car.

You might have to jam an extra row of books onto your bookshelf when you run out of room. Another way to jam is to get stuck, and a jam can be a dense bunch of stuck people or things, like a traffic jam. If you play a musical instrument, you might jam, or casually improvise, with other musicians. And of course the jam you spread on your toast is a delicious, sweet fruit preserve.

Definitions of jam

1. verb

   press tightly together or cram
   synonyms: mob, pack, pile, throng

   type of:

   crowd, crowd together

   to gather together in large numbers
2. verb

   crowd or pack to capacity
   synonyms: chock up, cram, jampack, ram, wad

   cram

   put something somewhere so that the space is completely filled

   type of:

   stuff

   cram into a cavity
3. verb

   push down forcibly
   “The driver jammed the brake pedal to the floor”

   type of:

   force, push

   move with force
4. verb

   crush or bruise
   “jam a toe”

   synonyms: crush

   type of:

   bruise, contuse

   injure the underlying soft tissue or bone of
5. verb

   get stuck and immobilized
   “the mechanism jammed”

   type of:

   glitch, malfunction, misfunction

   fail to function or function improperly
6. noun

   a dense crowd of people
   synonyms: crush, press

   types:

   snarl-up, traffic jam

   a number of vehicles blocking one another until they can scarcely move

   gridlock

   a traffic jam so bad that no movement is possible

   type of:

   crowd

   a large number of things or people considered together
7. noun

   informal terms for a difficult situation
   synonyms: fix, hole, kettle of fish, mess, muddle, pickle

   types:

   dog's breakfast, dog's dinner

   a poor job; a mess

   type of:

   difficulty

   a condition or state of affairs almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring great effort to bear or overcome
8. verb

   block passage through
   synonyms: block, close up, impede, obstruct, obturate, occlude

   types:

   block off, blockade

   obstruct access to

   barricade, barricado

   block off with barricades

   barricade

   prevent access to by barricading

   asphyxiate, choke, stifle, suffocate

   impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of

   tie up

   restrain from moving or operating normally

   dam, dam up

   obstruct with, or as if with, a dam

   block out, screen

   prevent from entering

   earth up, land up

   block with earth, as after a landslide

   bar, barricade, block, block off, block up, blockade, stop

   render unsuitable for passage

   back up, choke, choke off, clog, clog up, congest, foul

   become or cause to become obstructed

   gum up

   stick together as if with gum

   block off, close off, shut off

   block off the passage through

   shade

   protect from light, heat, or view

   close

   bar access to

   crap up

   become obstructed or chocked up

   block, choke up, lug, stuff

   obstruct

   silt, silt up

   become chocked with silt

   type of:

   hinder, impede

   be a hindrance or obstacle to
9. verb

   interfere with or prevent the reception of signals
   “Jam the Voice of America”

   synonyms: block

   types:

   barrage jam

   jam an entire frequency spectrum

   point jam

   jam a narrow band of frequencies

   spot jam

   jam a single frequency

   blanket jam

   jam a broad spectrum of frequencies to affect all communications in the area except for directional antenna communications

   type of:

   break up, cut off, disrupt, interrupt

   make a break in
10. noun

    deliberate radiation or reflection of electromagnetic energy for the purpose of disrupting enemy use of electronic devices or systems
    synonyms: electronic jamming, jamming

    types:

    barrage jamming

    electronic jamming over a wide range of frequencies simultaneously

    selective jamming, spot jamming

    electronic jamming of a specific channel or frequency

    type of:

    ECM, electronic countermeasures

    electronic warfare undertaken to prevent or reduce an enemy's effective use of the electromagnetic spectrum
11. noun

    preserve of crushed fruit
    types:

    strawberry jam, strawberry preserves

    made with strawberries

    type of:

    conserve, conserves, preserve, preserves

    fruit preserved by cooking with sugar
12. verb

    play music with a group informally or in an improvised way
    type of:

    play

    play on an instrument