traffic
the movement of vehicles, ships, persons, etc., in an area, along a street, through an air lane, over a water route, etc.: the heavy traffic on Main Street.
the vehicles, persons, etc., moving in an area, along a street, etc.
the transportation of goods for the purpose of trade, by sea, land, or air: ships of traffic.
trade; buying and selling; commercial dealings.
trade between different countries or places; commerce.
the business done by a railroad or other carrier in the transportation of freight or passengers.
the aggregate of freight, passengers, telephone or telegraph messages, etc., handled, especially in a given period.
communication, dealings, or contact between persons or groups: traffic between the Democrats and the Republicans.
mutual exchange or communication: traffic in ideas.
trade in some specific commodity or service, often of an illegal nature: the vast traffic in narcotics.
illegal commercial trade in human beings for the purpose of exploiting them: the traffic in young children.
to carry on traffic, trade, or commercial dealings.
to trade or deal in a specific commodity or service, often of an illegal nature (usually followed by in): to traffic in opium.
(of vehicles or persons) to move over or through (a place): It's a heavily trafficked bridge.
to trade or deal in (a commodity or service): to traffic guns.
to trade in (human beings) for the purpose of exploitation: He was convicted for trafficking illegal immigrants.
Origin of traffic
1synonym study For traffic
Other words from traffic
- traf·fick·er, noun
- traf·fic·less, adjective
- in·ter·traf·fic, noun, verb, in·ter·traf·ficked, in·ter·traf·fick·ing.
- un·traf·ficked, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use traffic in a sentence
With cross-border vehicle traffic limited to essential travel, most of the narcotics were detected inside commercial cargo loads, Perez said.
Immigration arrests along the Mexico border surged again in October | Nick Miroff | November 19, 2020 | Washington PostThe deal heralds yet another owner for the left-leaning HuffPost, which was co-founded in 2005 by Arianna Huffington and became a model for attracting large amounts of web traffic.
BuzzFeed buys HuffPost from Verizon in latest new-media deal | Verne Kopytoff | November 19, 2020 | FortuneThe rentable, battery-boosted rides also brought a rising number of pedestrian-involved crashes as some riders illegally zipped down sidewalks and darted around traffic before the craze was interrupted by the pandemic.
E-scooters are getting computer vision to curb pedestrian collisions | Dalvin Brown | November 19, 2020 | Washington PostTo mediate this and encourage traffic flow in the mazelike galleries, staff have turned off video displays and closed such exhibits as the segregated railway car and the interactive Greensboro lunch counter.
You have until Nov. 22 to visit these six Smithsonian museums. Here’s what to expect. | Kelsey Ables | November 19, 2020 | Washington PostIf you look at the concerns before the pandemic, we were worried in this area about not having enough people to hire, about commuting and traffic, and about the low supply of housing.
Amazon update: Second headquarters development and the area’s housing market | Michele Lerner | November 19, 2020 | Washington Post
Both priceless papyri that could shed light on early Christianity and forgeries are openly trafficked online.
Dismembering History: The Shady Online Trade in Ancient Texts | Candida Moss | November 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut birthed out of the annals of Reddit and onto heavily trafficked pop-culture sites, “Too Many Cooks” has become mainstream.
There Are More 'Too Many Cooks' Where That First Fever Dream Came From | Kevin Fallon | November 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBorder Patrol zeroes in on the highest trafficked areas and, in turn, smugglers change position.
How Mexico’s Cartels Are Behind the Border Kid Crisis | Caitlin Dickson | July 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTRefugee children are also at great risk of being trafficked, sexually exploited or forced into labor.
I know how long it takes to recover from being enslaved, because I was trafficked myself.
How To Help America’s Trafficking Victims In The Long Term | Ima Matul | June 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHere the local authorities had their offices, justice was administered, traders trafficked, citizens and idlers gathered.
Such of the Saguntines as had trafficked with the tribes of the interior recognized the new arrivals from the walls.
Snnica | Vicente Blasco IbezWe went to the slave market, where the capital of the republic trafficked in human flesh for itself and the surrounding country.
Children of the Market Place | Edgar Lee MastersUp river or down, she trafficked in a wherry, and took the waterman's tender glances as part receipt for his hire.
Little Novels of Italy | Maurice Henry HewlettNo, I liked you because your father was an old English baronet, and mine was a merchant who trafficked mainly in things Teutonic.
The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes | Israel Zangwill
British Dictionary definitions for traffic
/ (ˈtræfɪk) /
the vehicles coming and going in a street, town, etc
(as modifier): traffic lights
the movement of vehicles, people, etc, in a particular place or for a particular purpose: sea traffic
the business of commercial transportation by land, sea, or air
the freight, passengers, etc, transported
(usually foll by with) dealings or business: have no traffic with that man
trade, esp of an illicit or improper kind: drug traffic
the aggregate volume of messages transmitted through a communications system in a given period
mainly US the number of customers patronizing a commercial establishment in a given time period
(often foll by in) to carry on trade or business, esp of an illicit kind
(usually foll by with) to have dealings
Origin of traffic
1Derived forms of traffic
- trafficker, noun
- trafficless, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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