trade route

noun

1
: one of the sea-lanes ordinarily used by merchant ships
2
: a route followed by traders (as in caravans)

Examples of trade route in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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According to data from Drewry’s World Container Index (WCI), spot ocean freight rates rose 7 percent to $1,927 per 40-foot container after three weeks of decline, mainly due to rate hikes on trans-Pacific and Asia-to-Europe trade routes. Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 5 Dec. 2025 Meanwhile, the melting of the polar ice cap is opening up potential trade routes that could reshape global shipping. Ben Taub, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025 Buddhist culture and ideas, which spread across Asia through the trade routes and communication networks of an early urban cosmopolitanism, have long had a deep affinity with technoculture. Big Think, 18 Nov. 2025 Analyzing the makeup and variety of greys’ gut microbes can provide insights about where the birds spend time — at large in the wild, or getting shuffled along a black-market trade route, or sitting in a cage at a bird farm. Rene Ebersole, Rolling Stone, 18 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for trade route

Word History

First Known Use

1828, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of trade route was in 1828

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Trade route.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trade%20route. Accessed 23 Dec. 2025.

Kids Definition

trade route

noun
1
: one of the sea-lanes used by merchant ships
2
: a route followed by traders (as in caravans)

More from Merriam-Webster on trade route

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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