beltway

noun

belt·​way ˈbelt-ˌwā How to pronounce beltway (audio)
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 votersL. I. Barrett

Examples of beltway in a Sentence

Her influence extends beyond the Beltway.
Recent Examples on the Web 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 When the rare solar eclipse sweeps across the United States on April 8, 2024, its path starts in Texas and crosses the U.S. through Maine, treating sites in the beltway to the natural phenomenon of the moon blocking the sun. Rachel Chang, Travel + Leisure, 19 Sep. 2023 This move by anti-crypto beltway forces seems intended to slow the growth of licensed crypto institutions in the U.S. and would raise many foundational questions. Caitlin Long, Forbes, 4 June 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'beltway.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1950, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of beltway was in 1950

Dictionary Entries Near beltway

Cite this Entry

“Beltway.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beltway. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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