subway

noun

sub·​way ˈsəb-ˌwā 

: an underground way: such as

a

: a passage under a street (as for pedestrians, power cables, or water or gas mains)

b

: a usually electric underground railway

c

: underpass

subway intransitive verb

Examples of subway in a Sentence

I took the subway to midtown.

No one on the subway seemed to mind how crowded it was.

I've been on both the New York subway and the Underground in London.

Recent Examples on the Web

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is overseeing the Manhattan subway expansion, said funding for its tunnel-boring contract has already been approved. —Eduardo Cuevas, USA Today, 18 Oct. 2025

Mamdani said the new agency would deploy outreach workers in subway stations and free up police to focus on crime, improving response times citywide. —Dan Gooding, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Oct. 2025

The home is a 15-minute walk to Södermalm and just five minutes from the subway. —Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 15 Oct. 2025

This Space Cowboys vibe makes sense because this tech boom looks less like the last one — social apps powered by subway ads and nap pods — than the 1980s PC revolution, powered by tinkerers with motherboards and soldering irons. —Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 14 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1822, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing subway

• subway train

Rhymes for subway

• airway
• allay
• archway
• array
• ashtray
• astray
• aue
• away
• ballet
• belay
• beltway
• beret

Kids Definition

subway

noun

sub·​way ˈsəb-ˌwā 

1

: an underground passage

2

: a usually electric underground railway