gum up

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

There are three specific cases, however, where changing course halfway through does gum up the works, and you’re better off leaving things as they are, the experts say.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 23, 2026

Malformed proteins not only fail to carry out their tasks, they can accumulate and eventually gum up the inner workings of cells.

From Science Daily • Apr. 30, 2024

Such incidents will cause “ingress/egress issues for some communities” and potentially gum up or dam rivers with debris.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 31, 2024

But Mr Day said these were "ingeniously countered" with either pumped-in sugar based viscous fluid to gum up the clockwork mechanism, or a magnet known as "the clock stopper" which would disrupt its iron parts.

From BBC • Dec. 26, 2022

But the United States differs from Europe in ways that can gum up the mobility machine.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times