The Times Literary Supplement (London)
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How should you use pedestrian?
Most of us know pedestrian as a noun meaning someone who travels on foot. But the adjective sense of pedestrian as defined here is actually its original meaning. To be pedestrian was to be drab or dull, as if plodding along on foot rather than speeding on horseback or by coach. Pedestrian is often used to describe a colorless or lifeless writing style, but it can also describe politicians, public tastes, personal qualities, or possessions. In comparison with the elaborate stage shows put on by today's rock artists, for instance, most of the stage presentations of 1960s rock stars seem pedestrian.
Synonyms
Adjective
Examples of pedestrian in a Sentence
Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 11 Jan. 2024
That left me having to read through the manual, on paper even, a decidedly pedestrian introduction to this flashy gadget.
—Tim Stevens, Ars Technica, 6 July 2023
Elsewhere, deluxe yellow gold chains, with and without diamonds, were ubiquitous, but hardly pedestrian.
—Victoria Gomelsky, Robb Report, 15 June 2023
Almost exactly 24 hours after the 2016 CZ31 event, at 7:37 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 30, the much larger 2013 CU83 asteroid, this one as big as 1,050 feet across, will swing by Earth at a relatively pedestrian 13,100 miles per hour, at over 3 million miles away.
—Tim Newcomb, Popular Mechanics, 27 July 2022
The eRV2 has a range of just 108 miles, which is even less than the e-RV’s rather pedestrian 125-mile range.
—Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 19 Jan. 2023
By comparison, Voyager I, one of the fastest probes humans have ever deployed, travels at a relatively pedestrian 38,000 mph.
—Eric Betz, Discover Magazine, 21 Feb. 2020
One morning in April, Pavel Golub, the owner of a mobile-phone-accessory shop in town, walked to the pedestrian bridge and joined a large crowd of people waiting for some kind of official announcement.
—Joshua Yaffa, The New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2023
Her accomplishments include securing funding for a pedestrian bridge over Route 50 in 2009 and shepherding through the construction of the Bailey’s Upper Elementary School inside a former office building.
—Antonio Olivo, Washington Post, 3 Jan. 2023
Alice Xiang, Fortune, 19 Apr. 2024
Greenville is big enough for Broadway shows and rooftop bars, but people still often see their neighbors downtown, where a pedestrian bridge gives an overhead view of the Reedy River Falls.
—Eduardo Medina Eduardo Medina, New York Times, 18 Apr. 2024
Experts have been vigilant in their warnings about the potential for the next-gen vehicles of yesterday to do untold damage to their drivers and pedestrians.
—Ryan Hogg, Fortune Europe, 16 Apr. 2024
There are no immediate reports of injuries, but people, from emergency services, the Danish Chamber of Commerce, and its employees and random pedestrians were seen carrying out historic paintings out of the burning building in an attempt to save the artifacts from being burned.
—Julia Gomez, USA TODAY, 16 Apr. 2024
The pedestrian suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital for treatment, said Officer Alayna Gonzalez with the Kansas City Police Department.
—Robert A. Cronkleton, Kansas City Star, 16 Apr. 2024
Cranes scattered across a city's skyline can be eyesores that distract from a city's beauty and can even pose as threats to construction workers and pedestrians.
—Kayla Jackson, The Arizona Republic, 15 Apr. 2024
The driver of a Ford F-550 was driving north on Pine when for unknown reasons the truck veered onto the right shoulder and struck the pedestrian, CHP Officer Jared Grieshaber said.
—Kristina Davis, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Apr. 2024
Bartholomew said the pedestrian tripped while trying to catch a northbound El Camino Real bus.
—Jason Green, The Mercury News, 13 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pedestrian.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Pedestrian.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pedestrian. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
pedestrian
1 of 2 adjective
pedestrian
2 of 2 nounAdjective
from Latin pedestr-, pedestris "going on foot," from ped-, pes "foot" — related to centipede, impede, pawn entry 1, pedal
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