From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtraffictraf‧fic1 /ˈtræfɪk/ ●●● S1 W2 noun [uncountable] 1 TTRthe vehicles moving along a road or street There wasn’t much traffic on the roads. The sound of the traffic kept me awake.2 TTthe movement of aircraft, ships, or trains from one place to another air traffic control the problems of air traffic congestion in Europe3 formalTT the movement of people or goods by aircraft, ships, or trainstraffic of Most long-distance traffic of heavy goods is done by ships.4 BBTSCCthe secret buying and selling of illegal goods drugs traffictraffic in traffic in firearmsCOLLOCATIONSverbsbe stuck/caught/held up in trafficSorry I’m late – I was stuck in traffic.avoid/miss the trafficI left early, hoping to miss the traffic.cut/reduce trafficThe congestion charge did cut road traffic in central London.traffic moves/flowsAt last the traffic was moving again.traffic is diverted (=made to go in another direction)Traffic was diverted onto the A166 as emergency services cleared the wreckage ADJECTIVES/NOUN + trafficheavyWe ran into heavy traffic near the airport.lightThe traffic is fairly light at this time of day.bad/terribleThe traffic was terrible this morning.slow/slow-movingTraffic’s very slow going out of New York.rush-hour trafficI left early to try to miss the rush-hour traffic.local trafficThere is quite a lot of local traffic.motorway traffic British English, freeway traffic American English:As motorway traffic worsens, commuters may have to find other ways of getting to and from work.oncoming traffic (=traffic coming towards you)The driver, too busy watching oncoming traffic, doesn’t notice the pedestrian ahead.traffic + NOUNa traffic jam (=a line of cars that have stopped, or are moving very slowly)She spent two hours sitting in a traffic jam.traffic congestion (=when the roads are full of traffic)efforts to cut traffic congestiontraffic flow (=the steady movement of traffic)The road widening should help to improve traffic flow. a traffic accidentHe’s been involved in a traffic accident.the traffic police (=police dealing with traffic problems and illegal driving)The teenagers got stopped by the local traffic police.traffic noiseYou get a lot of traffic noise living here.phrasesthe volume of trafficThe new ring road will reduce the volume of traffic through the village.a stream of traffic (=a long continuous series of cars, trucks etc)There was a constant stream of traffic.the roar/rumble/hum of trafficThe only noise was the distant rumble of traffic on the coastal road.
Examples from the Corpus
traffic• It shows steady increases in accidents with injuries, as traffic volumes mounted.• The answer to the first problem is obviously to try to do something about your domestic traffic problems.• People are running, roller-blading, dancing in traffic.• Ballymena Division Warden Street, Ballymena - single lane traffic on existing one-way street.• There had been little traffic so far: mostly long-distance lorries.• There's been a lot more traffic around here since they opened the mall.• At present, around half of transatlantic telephony traffic is carried via satellite.• And the traffic is thick along the Grand Loop, which carves a large figure-eight through the center of the park.air traffic• By 17 May all air traffic had been halted and the Post Office workers had struck.• This was not an aircraft taxi-ing down the runway, only to be called back by air traffic control.• We've got air traffic on to it.• The co-operation of air traffic control is central.• Clash looms over air traffic control Many critics of Railtrack accuse it of putting profits above passenger safety.• She could see a highwire directly overhead, above that, air traffic, and beyond--.• They questioned whether air traffic controllers should have over-ruled Captain Fuchs and insisted on him using a remote runway.• The pilot had been in regular contact with air traffic controllers but did not report any difficulties.traffic of• The increased traffic of crude oil in the gulf means a higher risk of oil spills. traffic in• Hughes admits that his company trafficked in stolen documents.• illegal traffic in marijuanatraffictraffic2 ●○○ verb (trafficked, trafficking) [transitive] to take someone to another country and force them to work, for example as a prostitute He had made a fortune by trafficking young women. → traffic in something→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
traffic• The charges include armed robbery, distribution of stolen property, illegal gun sales and use, and drug trafficking.• By 2015, bitter enmities played themselves out in gang warfare, narcotics traffic, and addiction.• Most of those arrested were reported to have been previously convicted of drug and arms trafficking and violent crimes.• He was immediately flown to Florida to face drugs trafficking charges.• Those now being accused of trafficking in stolen property are dismayed.• During 1989 a total of 99 people had been beheaded, many of them for drug trafficking offences.From Longman Business Dictionarytraffictraf‧fic1 /ˈtræfɪk/ noun [uncountable]1the movement of planes, ships, trains etc from one place to anothera telecommunications network for controllingair traffic.2TRANSPORTTRAVELthe movement of people or goods by air, ship, train etcThe airline saidpassenger traffic dropped 29% in February.traffic ofthe extensive traffic of Chinese goods to Canada3COMPUTING the movement of computer DATA or other electronic information from one place to anotherThe three companies now control 90% of the nation’sphone traffic.a digital service used fordata traffic4MARKETING the number of people buying a particular product or using a particular serviceIf consumer spending picks up, there will be keen competition forconsumer traffic. → see also page traffictraffictraffic2 verb (trafficked, trafficking) → traffic in something→ See Verb tableOrigin traffic1 (1500-1600) Early French trafique, from Old Italian traffico, from trafficare “to trade” 