Underground Railroad

noun

variants or less commonly Underground Railway

: a system of cooperation among active antislavery people in the U.S. before 1863 by which people escaping enslavement were secretly helped to reach the North or Canada

Examples of Underground Railroad in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The town of 13,000 people, where about 15% of the population is Black, was a key stop on the Underground Railroad and a regional base for the Civil Rights Movement. — ABC News, 10 July 2026

The town of 13,000 people, where about 15% of the population is Black, was a key stop on the Underground Railroad and a regional base for the civil rights movement. — Sudhin Thanawala, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2026

And one of the things that was really fascinating to me is that there has been a bit of revisionist history and a lot of white Americans in particular talk about how their families played a key role in the Underground Railroad. — Dana Taylor, USA Today, 3 July 2026

Why Lawrence, Kansas ranks high The article goes into the history of Lawrence, summarizing the establishment of the town by abolitionists, political violence, and being a stop for the Underground Railroad. — Emily Harter, Kansas City Star, 1 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1842, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Underground Railroad

• abode
• anode
• barcode
• bestowed
• boatload
• borrowed
• carload
• caseload
• cathode
• commode
• corrode
• crossroad

Kids Definition

Underground Railroad

noun

: a system of cooperation among active antislavery people in the U.S. before 1863 by which people escaping enslavement were secretly helped to reach the North or Canada