traffic

noun · verb · adjective

Simple meaning

The commercial transportation or exchange of goods, or the movement of passengers or people.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

trafik

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtɹæfɪk

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

The commercial transportation or exchange of goods, or the movement of passengers or people.
Moving pedestrians or vehicles, or the flux or passage thereof.
The illegal trade or exchange of goods, often drugs.
The exchange or flux of information, messages or data, as in a computer or telephone network.
The commodities of the market.

verb

intransitive
To pass goods and commodities from one person to another for an equivalent in goods or money; to buy or sell goods.
intransitive
To trade meanly or mercenarily; to bargain.
transitive
To exchange in traffic; to effect by a bargain or for a consideration.

adjective

philippines
Congested.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency: Very Common
Typical Use: General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Moving pedestrians or vehicles, or the flux or passage thereof.

Used this way, traffic is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: Matter-of-fact
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

air traffictraffic controltraffic flowtraffic lightsroad trafficheavy trafficpassenger trafficnetwork traffic

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

traffic controlnounCompound term
Control of the flow of traffic in a building or a city.
traffic copnounCompound term
A policeman who controls the flow of automobile traffic.
traffic courtnounCompound term
A court that has power to prosecute for traffic offenses.
traffic islandnounCompound term
A curbed area in a roadway from which traffic is excluded.
traffic jamnounCompound term
A number of vehicles blocking one another until they can scarcely move.
traffic lanenounCompound term
A lane of a main road that is defined by painted lines.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

drug traffickingnounRelated term
Traffic in illegal drugs.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “traffic” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.