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Inroad is a combination of in and road, both of which are pretty mundane, as far as words go. But the first-and-oldest-meaning of inroad hints at a meaning of road other than the "way for traveling" one. Beginning back in the days of Old English, road referred to an armed hostile incursion made on horseback. (Raid comes from this use of road and also formerly specified incursions on horseback.) Road, as well as inroad, has lost its violent connotation. While inroads are often made at the expense of someone or something, they are at times simply advances, as when an artist is said to be "making inroads into a community."
Examples of inroad in a Sentence
Fin Daniel Gómez, CBS News, 16 Dec. 2025
Sam Altman wouldn’t be the first tech mogul to try to shake up Tinseltown with a radical new product or business model, and a Disney partnership feels like a major inroad.
—Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 11 Dec. 2025
Denim Deal is making inroads in France.
—Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 4 Dec. 2025
But Section 230’s application to AI platforms remains uncertain, and attorneys have recently made inroads with creative legal tactics in consumer cases targeting tech companies.
—Angela Yang, NBC news, 25 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inroad
Cite this Entry
“Inroad.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inroad. Accessed 18 Dec. 2025.
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