beltway

noun

belt·​way ˈbelt-ˌwā 

often attributive

1

: a highway skirting an urban area

2

capitalized : the political and social world of Washington, D.C., viewed especially as insular and exclusive

understanding better than Beltway insiders what really interests voters

—L. I. Barrett

Examples of beltway in a Sentence

Her influence extends beyond the Beltway.

Recent Examples on the Web

The Francis Scott Key Bridge was part of Interstate 695, which is the beltway bypass around Baltimore. —The Editors, National Review, 3 Apr. 2024

Mar 26, 6:04 AM The history of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge The 1.6-mile bridge on the I-695 beltway crosses the Patapsco River, where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the words of the U.S. national anthem in 1814, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority. —Abc News, ABC News, 26 Mar. 2024

Officials are scrambling to clean up and rebuild after the accident, which has shuttered the city's busy port and a portion of the Baltimore beltway. —Ben Finley and Brian Witte, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2024

Officials are scrambling to clean up and rebuild after the accident, which has shuttered the city’s busy port and a portion of the Baltimore beltway. —Ben Finley, Fortune, 29 Mar. 2024

The Key Bridge formed a major part of the Interstate 695 beltway, linking Maryland’s Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties. —Praveena Somasundaram, Washington Post, 28 Mar. 2024

Just north of the beltway, things are little more, well, tight, with the Ravens sitting at 19th with just under $14 million in room. —Brian Wacker, Baltimore Sun, 31 Jan. 2024

North Korea, though the subject of endless fascination among both beltway pundits and TMZ aficionados, seemed eerily unknowable. —Lauretta Charlton, New York Times, 26 Jan. 2024

Ringing the upper half of the Perimeter, the beltway that encircles the city, the region sits like an eyebrow growing steadily thicker every year as sprawl turns farmland into exurbs and exurbs into suburbs. —Ben Jacobs, The New Republic, 21 Sep. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1950, in the meaning defined at sense 1