roads

noun

plural of road
1
as in highways
a passage cleared for public vehicular travel I think we should take one of the less congested roads

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in railroads
a roadway overlaid with parallel steel rails over which trains travel the railway companies are continually repairing their roads

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of roads Two people were killed in as many crashes on Arkansas roads on Friday, according to preliminary police reports. — Rafael Escalera Montoto, Arkansas Online, 30 Sep. 2026 Rain was also developing near Key Largo, with slick roads possible during the morning commute. — Lissette Gonzalez, CBS News, 29 Sep. 2026 Respondents supported making roads safer, addressing congestion and maintaining the city’s parks and bike trails. — Haley Parsley, Sacbee.com, 29 Sep. 2026 Floodwaters in Thailand ’s capital were slowly receding on Monday after nearly continuous rainfall over the weekend, although some neighborhoods and major roads remained inundated. — ABC News, 28 Sep. 2026 The roads initially served a military purpose, the professor added. — Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 22 Sep. 2026 As the post-2021 conflict intensified, military checkpoints proliferated on major roads across the country. — Andrew Nachemson, The Dial, 22 Sep. 2026 Diesel long dictated the roads, but electric heavy transport is taking charge. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 15 Sep. 2026 Cycling advocates say that removing the lanes will harm not only bicyclists, but also pedestrians and drivers who have to navigate the roads alongside them. — Whitney Eulich, Christian Science Monitor, 14 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for roads
  1. highways
  2. railroads
  3. streets
  4. railways
  5. thoroughfares
  6. freeways
  7. routes
  8. expressways
Noun
  • Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern cite 500-plus supportive customers, more than 2,000 filed statements, and backers including trucking giant Knight-Swift and a claim of 2 million fewer truckloads on highways.
    — Glenn Taylor, Footwear News, 24 Sep. 2026
  • For decades, the story has focused on population loss, empty storefronts, highways that divided neighborhoods and a downtown that too often goes quiet after work.
    — Mark Taylor, Hartford Courant, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of highways
Noun
  • The regulator rejected the railroads’ original application as incomplete in January.
    — Glenn Taylor, Footwear News, 24 Sep. 2026
  • Buffett invested in traditional companies embedded in the real economy with a focus on value, like insurance companies, railroads and public utilities.
    — John Towfighi, CNN Money, 19 Sep. 2026
Definition of railroads
Noun
  • For years, Calderon as a friendly face in the streets, gas stations and grocery stores of the small Johnson County town.
    — Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 1 Oct. 2026
  • The narrow streets around the sultan’s palace are filled with backpackers, street vendors, tour guides hawking their services, and office workers popping out for a coffee amid the madness.
    — Lilit Marcus, CNN Money, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of streets
Noun
  • Uganda then had a large population of Indian immigrants, who had been brought over by the British at the end of the nineteenth century to help construct railways, and who eventually established more economic autonomy and power than Black Ugandans.
    — Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2026
  • These have included arson, high-profile hacks, GPS jamming as well as sabotage actions against key infrastructure, including undersea communication cables, logistics centers and railways.
    — Ivana Kottasová, CNN Money, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of railways
Noun
  • The massive project funded from 13 federal, state and local agencies, gives a glimpse of what’s to come for Long Beach thoroughfares.
    — Barbara Kingsley-Wilson, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2026
  • Two years later, Wong became one of the key leaders of the city’s Umbrella Movement protests that rallied thousands of predominantly young people to the streets to call for greater democracy by blocking major thoroughfares for 79 straight days.
    — Chris Lau, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of thoroughfares
Noun
  • Suburbs stretch their undulating freeways into the grid, sucking out nutrients (and cutting through neighborhoods).
    — Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Major weekend closures and lane restrictions are set to hit several popular metro Phoenix freeways, and the Arizona Department of Transportation warned drivers to use detours as needed.
    — Christian Cervantes, AZCentral.com, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of freeways
Noun
  • Ishmita Shah, a roads engineer, said crews have been working with Nepal's army since the second day after the floods to reopen routes in affected areas.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 26 Sep. 2026
  • That is important for industrial facilities, where inspection routes can cross multiple buildings, zones, and types of infrastructure.
    — Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of routes
Noun
  • Bikes are not allowed to on freeways or expressways, and cyclists cannot pass through tolls unless the signs nearby dictate otherwise.
    — Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 31 Aug. 2026
  • The firm noted that major bridges like the Donghai Bridge and the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, as well as regional expressways, have reopened with standard speed limits restored.
    — Glenn Taylor, Footwear News, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of expressways

Browse Nearby Words

road rage
roads
roadstead
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Cite this Entry

“Roads.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/roads. Accessed 3 Oct. 2026.

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