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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 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 Communities near wildlife areas often rely on motorcycles for transport, especially where roads are poor and alternatives are limited. — ABC News, 14 Sep. 2026 In a wartorn country where air travel is too perilous to even consider, the roads are the obvious option, but are jammed, precarious, and cursed with long, torturous border queues. — Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 14 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 Yemeni government forces have launched airstrikes targeting Houthi reinforcements west of Taiz, several residents of Mokha said, and the Yemeni government military has urged civilians to avoid roads between Taiz and Mokha. — Arkansas Online, 11 Sep. 2026 Now workers are crushing concrete and twisted metal into roads, shelter floors, and spaces for community kitchens. — Literary Hub, 11 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
  • Floodwater continued to cover highways and low-lying areas, disrupting traffic and daily life.
    — Aniruddha Ghosal, Los Angeles Times, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Aitken’s 65-minute installation features multiple characters — played by Natasha Lyonne, Beck, members of the Los Angeles Dance Project and more — moving through settings across America, from deserts and remote mountains to factories and highways.
    — Jem Aswad, Variety, 18 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
  • Some streets in Norfolk, Virginia, were closed Wednesday due to flooding and several are expected to be impassable during high tide Thursday, City Councilman Thomas Smigiel said in a social media post.
    — Mary Gilbert, CNN Money, 24 Sep. 2026
  • The most famous photograph of the early Second World War is of a Frenchman weeping at the sight of Nazi soldiers parading through the streets of Marseilles in 1940.
    — Letters to the Editor, Hartford Courant, 24 Sep. 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
  • 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
  • The firm, controlled by Kingsbarn Realty Capital, reportedly wants to build a private road connecting one of Yosemite’s main thoroughfares to the company’s 83 acres of land just outside the park.
    — Colson Thayer, PEOPLE, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of thoroughfares
Noun
  • 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
  • These crimes put everyone traveling on our freeways at risk, and they will be thoroughly investigated.
    — DeJanay Booth-Singleton, CBS News, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of freeways
Noun
  • However, their effectiveness can be limited against drones navigating along preprogrammed routes or communicating through fiber-optic cables.
    — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 19 Sep. 2026
  • While Levine Cava’s reductions on late-night routes survived intact in the budget, commissioners agreed to take up the issue again this fall before the cuts took effect this spring.
    — Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 18 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 26 Sep. 2026.

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