plural roads
1
: a hard flat surface for vehicles, people, and animals to travel on
a paved/gravel/dirt road
We'll cross the road up ahead at the crosswalk.
He drove off the road.
We parked by the side of the road.
There are lots of cars on the road this morning.
The roads around here are pretty bad. [=the roads are in bad condition]
This is a busy road. [=many cars, trucks, etc., use this road]
These country/mountain roads are beautiful.
icy roads
The post office is up/down this road a bit. [=a short distance further on this road]
There's likely to be a lot of traffic on the main/major roads [=the roads most commonly used], so you may want to take back/side roads. [=roads that are less commonly used and that do not go through the main part of a city, town, etc.]
the county's public/private roads
—often used in namesThe library is on River Road.
a desolate stretch of road
Miles of road lay ahead.
The cabin is accessible by road.
traveling on the open road [=on roads that are away from cities and towns]
2
: a process or a course of action that leads to a certain result
the road to riches/success/victory
They're heading down a dangerous road. [=they're following a course of action that could lead to a bad result]
She had a stroke recently but is on the road to recovery. [=in the process of becoming healthy again]
I've been/gone down this road before. [=I've had this kind of experience before; I've done this kind of thing before]
Cite this Entry
“Road.” Merriam-Webster.com Simple Definition, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/simple/road. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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