How do you use the word "jam" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "jam" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "jam": There was an enormous traffic jam in downtown Kyoto. Please hide the blueberry jam where Takako can't see it.

Jam Meaning

/ˈd͡ʒæm/

Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts

nounA difficult situation.

Sentence Examples

There was an enormous traffic jam in downtown Kyoto.

Please hide the blueberry jam where Takako can't see it.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

hole fix mess

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

For breakfast, I like to put berry ____ on my bread or crackers.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

She put some sweet strawberry ____ on her toast and enjoyed it with a cup of hot black tea.

Word Origin & History

First attested in the early 18th c. as a verb meaning “to press, be pressed, be wedged in”. Compare dialectal jammock (“to press, squeeze, crush into a soft mass, chew food"; also "a soft, pulpy substance”). Perhaps from Middle English chammen, champen ("to bite upon something, gnash the teeth"; whence modern champ, chomp), of uncertain origin; probably originally onomatopoeic. The "performance" sense is first attested with regards to jazz in 1929, and its origin, though uncertain, is likely metaphorical, "something sweet made by the combination of many things", with influence from jamboree.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"It's a blackmail ring, and the district attorneys get a share of the loot. […] Well, they got him in the same kind of jam, and soaked him to the tune of three hundred and eighty-six thousand." — 1928, Upton Sinclair, Boston:

"She was married when we first met / Soon to be divorced / I helped her out of a jam, I guess / But I used a little too much force" — 1975, Bob Dylan, “Tangled Up in Blue”:

"Where, where is my common sense? / How did I get in a jam like this?" — 1977, David Byrne, “Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town”, in Talking Heads: 77, performed by Talking Heads:

"According to Boeing, in the history of this elevator design (which exists on all Boeing DC-9/MD-80 series and 717 model airplanes), this accident was the first notification that Boeing had received of an elevator jam occurring on an airplane exposed to ground gusts lower than 65 kts. Boeing noted that the elevator design first entered service in 1965 on the then-Douglas DC-9 airplane." — 2019 February 14, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.3.2.3 Elevator Design Standard for Ground Gust Loads”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Runway Overrun During Rejected Takeoff, Ameristar Air Cargo, Inc., dba Ameristar Charters, flight 9363, Boeing MD-83, N786TW, Ypsilanti, Michigan, March 8, 2017, archived from the original on 02 Jul 2022, page 12:

"And a mix CD titled "Summer Jamz 2000." Jamz is spelled with a "z"." — 2025, S.E. Case, chapter 1, in Rigsby WI, volume 1: Foothold, →ISBN, retrieved 23 Aug 2025, page 16:

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