Meaning of traffic In English

• 0 the number of vehicles moving along roads, or the amount of aircraft, trains, or ships moving along a route:

  • There was heavy/a lot of traffic on the roads this morning.

  • We got stuck in traffic for several hours.

  • New measures have been introduced to try and ease traffic congestion in the city.

  • Five people were injured in a traffic accident (= one involving vehicles).

  • US I heard about the accident on the traffic report on the radio this morning.

  • Air traffic has increased 30 percent in the last decade.

  • The airline halved its overseas service because of a sharp reduction in traffic.

  • Environmental groups want more passenger and freight traffic moved off the roads and onto trains.

• 1 illegal trade:

  • to cut down the traffic in drugs/the drug traffic

  • Police are looking for ways of curbing the traffic in guns.

• 2 the activity of data and messages passing through an online communication system or the number of visits to a particular website:

  • internet traffic

  • Twitter traffic

  • web/website/site traffic

  • We can give you advice on how to improve your site traffic and generate sales.

• 3 to buy and sell goods illegally:

  • They were arrested for trafficking in the eggs of protected species of birds.

  • It is estimated that between 700,000 and 2 million women and children are trafficked globally each year.

• 4 the movement of vehicles or people along roads, or the movement of aircraft, trains, or ships along a route:

  • heavy/rush-hour traffic

  • Air traffic has increased 30% in the last decade.

• 5 illegal trade:

  • They’re trying to cut down on the traffic in exotic birds being sold illegally.

• 6 to buy and sell something illegally:

  • He was charged with trafficking in stolen goods.

• 7 all the vehicles that are on a road or all the aircraft, trains, or ships that are along a route or in an area at a particular time:

  • air/rail/road traffic All commercial air traffic in the area has been cancelled.

  • Rome has a video tracking system installed to help reduce traffic congestion.

  • Banks study migration and traffic trends in deciding where to locate branches.

• 8 people or goods transported by road, air, train, or ship, as a business:

  • The loss of passenger and freight traffic to ferries and low cost airlines have forced Eurotunnel to produce yet another recovery programme.

• 9 the amount of data moving between computers or systems at a particular time:

  • We need a telecom infrastructure that can handle fast-growing internet traffic.

  • They need to convert to broadband to cope with the growing volume of data and voice traffic.

• 10 the number of people buying goods or using a service at a particular time:

  • Many casino companies produced solid earnings from heavy traffic during the New Year's holiday.

  • The sites that are attracting traffic are professional blogs.

• 11 the illegal trade of goods or people:

  • the brutal trade in human traffic

  • traffic in/of sth Most of the traffic of narcotics is not detected.

• 12 to buy and sell goods or people illegally:

  • He pleaded no contest to trafficking 10,000 pounds of marijuana.

  • traffic sb/sth somewhere An estimated 600,000 to 800,000 victims are trafficked across international borders each year.