travado

Travado is a Portuguese adjective and past participle derived from the verb travar. It describes something that has been blocked, secured in a locked position, or prevented from moving. The sense originates from trava, a bar or latch used to obstruct movement, and to travar is to block, impede, or fix in place.

Meanings and uses

- Mechanical and physical: a device or object is jammed or prevented from functioning. Examples include a door that won’t open, a vehicle with the transmission stuck, or a mechanism that is travado and cannot operate.

- Computing and technology: a system or program that stops responding can be described as travado. Phrases such as o sistema está travado or o programa travou are common to indicate a freeze or deadlock.

- Negotiations and processes: a development that stalls or reaches a deadlock may be described as travado. As negociações estão travadas conveys a stalled or blocked negotiation process.

- Sports and games: a contest with little scoring or tight defense may be called travado, indicating a low-activity, tightly contested game.

- Personal use: a person who freezes under pressure or cannot speak can be said to ficar travado, meaning to momentarily lose the ability to respond.

Related terms include travamento (the act or state of being locked or frozen) and trava (a physical latch or catch). Travado is widely used in technical, colloquial, and formal contexts, and its precise meaning depends on the surrounding domain.