road
pronunciation
How to pronounce road in British English:
UK [rəʊd]
How to pronounce road in American English:
US [roʊd]
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- Noun:
- an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation
- a way or means to achieve something
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- Adjective:
- taking place over public roads
- working for a short time in different places
Word Origin
- road
- road: [OE] Road comes from the same ultimate source as ride – and indeed in the Old English period it meant either simply ‘riding’ or ‘hostile incursion on horseback’ (a sense preserved in inroads [16] and also in raid, which is historically the same word as road). By the 14th century the sense ‘sheltered anchorage’ (now represented by the plural roads) had emerged, but the central modern meaning ‘track for traffic’ did not put in an appearance until the late 16th century (hitherto the main words for expressing this concept had been way and street).=> inroads, raid, ride
- road (n.)
- Old English rad "riding expedition, journey, hostile incursion," from Proto-Germanic *raido (cognates: Old Frisian red "ride," Old Saxon reda, Middle Dutch rede, Old High German reita "foray, raid"), from PIE *reidh- "to ride" (see ride (v.)). Also related to raid (n.). In Middle English, "a riding, a journey;" sense of "open way for traveling between two places" is first recorded 1590s. Meaning "narrow stretch of sheltered water" is from early 14c. (as in Hampton Roads in Virginia). Modern spelling established 18c. In 19c. U.S. use, often meaning "railroad." On the road "travelling" is from 1640s. Road test (n.) is from 1906; as a verb from 1937. Road hog is attested from 1886; road rage is from 1988. Road map is from 1786; road trip is by 1950, originally of baseball teams. Old English had radwerig "weary of travelling."
Synonym
Example
- 1. A hard road still lies ahead .
- 2. Herbert left the house and walked quickly down the road .
- 3. But the road was a long one .
- 4. Even today the mountain road is lined with lorries .
- 5. Kicking the can three months down the road is not ideal .