ROAD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does road mean? 

• ROAD (noun)
  The noun ROAD has 2 senses:

1. an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation

2. a way or means to achieve something

  Familiarity information: ROAD used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ROAD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An open way (generally public) for travel or transportation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

road; route

Hypernyms ("road" is a kind of...):

way (any artifact consisting of a road or path affording passage from one place to another)

Meronyms (parts of "road"):

bend; curve (curved segment (of a road or river or railroad track etc.))

turnout; widening (a part of a road that has been widened to allow cars to pass or park)

turnaround (an area sufficiently large for a vehicle to turn around)

circle; rotary; roundabout; traffic circle (a road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island)

crest; crown (the center of a cambered road)

berm; shoulder (a narrow edge of land (usually unpaved) along the side of a road)

roadbed (a bed supporting a road)

carrefour; crossing; crossroad; crossway; intersection (a junction where one street or road crosses another)

Meronyms (substance of "road"):

pavement; paving (the paved surface of a thoroughfare)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "road"):

line; rail line; railway line (the road consisting of railroad track and roadbed)

turnoff (a side road where you can turn off)

cart track; cartroad; track (any road or path affording passage especially a rough one)

thoroughfare (a public road from one place to another)

speedway (road where high speed driving is allowed)

skid road (a road made of logs on which freshly cut timber can be hauled)

side road (a minor road branching off of a main road)

crosscut; cutoff; shortcut (a route shorter than the usual one)

roadway (a road (especially that part of a road) over which vehicles travel)

post road (a road over which mail is carried)

highway; main road (a major road for any form of motor transport)

drive; driveway; private road (a road leading up to a private house)

drive; parkway (a wide scenic road planted with trees)

detour; roundabout way (a roundabout road (especially one that is used temporarily while a main route is blocked))

corduroy (a road made of logs laid crosswise)

clearway (a road on which you are not allowed to stop (unless you have a breakdown))

causeway (a road that is raised above water or marshland or sand)

bypath; byroad; byway (a side road little traveled (as in the countryside))

access road; slip road (a short road giving access to an expressway)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A way or means to achieve something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the road to fame

Hypernyms ("road" is a kind of...):

agency; means; way (thing or person that acts to produce a particular effect or achieve an end)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "road"):

royal road (an auspicious way or means to achieve something)

 Context examples 

The carriage went at a hard pace straight along, then we made a complete turn and went along another straight road.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

How far are we on our road now, I wonder?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

This was excellent news, Watson, for it showed me that I was on the right road.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

On the road he met a sparrow that said to him, Why are you so sad, my friend?

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Mr. Carruthers has got a trap, and so the dangers of the lonely road, if there ever were any dangers, are now over.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This passage is at least as extraordinary a road from the breakfast-parlour to your apartment, as that staircase can be from the stables to mine.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Every day when he came back from his stroll he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along the road.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The road ran by the side of the lake, which became narrower as I approached my native town.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

None, I thank you, unless you will give me the pleasure of your company the little way our road lies together.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The house, furniture, neighbourhood, and roads, were all to her taste, and Lady Catherine's behaviour was most friendly and obliging.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)