road

Noun

1. A way used for travelling between places, originally one wide enough to allow foot passengers and horses to travel, now (US) usually one surfaced with asphalt or concrete and designed to accommodate many vehicles travelling in both directions. In the UK both senses are heard: a country road is the same as a country lane.
2. (uncountable) Roads in general as a means of travel, especially by motor vehicle.
3. (dated) A physical way or route.
4. (figuratively) A path chosen, as in life or career.
5. An underground tunnel in a mine.
6. (US, archaic) A railroad.
7. (UK, US) A single railroad track (railway track).
8. (obsolete) The act of riding on horseback.
9. (obsolete) A hostile ride against a particular area; a raid.
10. (plural-normally) A partly sheltered area of water near a shore in which vessels may ride at anchor; a roadstead.
11. (obsolete) A journey, or stage of a journey.
12. A hard, flat pitch, typically favourable for batters.

Adj

1. (Canada, US, attributive, not-comparable) At the venue of the opposing team or competitor; on the road.
2. (not-comparable) Of or pertaining to a road bike.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɹəʊd/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: rode

Inherited from Old English: rād

Cognate with Scots: -

In summary

From Middle English rode, rade (“ride, journey”), from Old English rād (“riding, hostile incursion”), from Proto-West Germanic *raidu, from Proto-Germanic *raidō (“a ride”), from Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ- (“to ride”). Doublet of raid, acquired from Scots. Cognates include West Frisian reed (paved trail/road, driveway).
The current primary meaning of "street, way for traveling" originated relatively late — Shakespeare seemed to expect his audiences to find it unfamiliar — and probably arose through reinterpretation of roadway (“a way for riding on”) as saying way twice, in other words as a tautological compound.

Synonyms

path

🛣️

way

street

route

track

trail

highway

avenue

roadway

course

passage

pathway

lane

thoroughfare

journey

alley

method

boulevard

distance

highroad

pass

run

high road

motorway

🛣️

roadstead

side street

broad path

street traffic

pike

carriageway

on the road

railway

direction

public way

race

rd

river

roads

sidewalk

superhighway

throughway

thruway

towpath

tracks

traffic

travel

turnpike

walk

🚶

way of living

coming and going

Translations

route

🛣️

chemin

🛣️

strada

🛣️

camino

Straße

weg

Weg

🛣️

droga

via

🛣️

estrada

🛣️

via

δρόμος

caminho

🛣️

carretera

🛣️

straat

Sentences

Choose between the high road and the low .

The road is blocked .

The Edinburgh Road passes through its eastern third .

It was no more exciting than an overturned carriage or a tree blown across the road .

The wide road shimmered in the hot sun .

He practices road cycling and track cycling .