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 Most mountain roads should remain wet, but slick conditions are possible above 9,000 feet, especially after dark. — Joe Ruch, CBS News, 13 Oct. 2026 Critics also worried that an unplanned surge in housing could strain schools, roads and other infrastructure. — Jennifer Ludden, NPR, 13 Oct. 2026 By putting their eye-catching building on a spot along Route 66 and next to the path of the freeway, Fresco said, the people behind the Penguin were catering to motorists on roads rooted in two different eras. — Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2026 Another asset class Draho suggests is infrastructure — operators of roads, ports, bridges, and other hard assets. — Michelle Fox, CNBC, 13 Oct. 2026 Generally, on American roads, this is known as the driver’s seat. — Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026 As the hundreds of thousands of people made their way down the narrow roads following the politician, a few rerouted into the industry event, still carrying big flags and with faces lit up with hope. — Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 7 Oct. 2026 In some parts of the country, dangerous sinkholes are opening as aging, abandoned mine infrastructure erodes beneath communities, roads and public lands. — ABC News, 6 Oct. 2026 Rising sea levels with climate change are already inundating seaside roads, railways, and neighborhoods in California. — Justine Calma, The Verge, 6 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for roads
  1. highways
  2. railroads
  3. streets
  4. railways
  5. thoroughfares
  6. freeways
  7. routes
  8. expressways
Noun
  • In Chile in 2024, several hundred demonstrators burned tires and blocked coastal highways and railway tracks to protest the early closure of the fishing season, a move partly driven by overfishing tied to fishmeal.
    — Ian Urbina, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026
  • The red dye also allows a road inspector to detect whether a trucker is evading taxes by using the fuel on highways.
    — Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of highways
Noun
  • Blacks in the South were routinely imprisoned on petty or trumped-up charges, then leased out to landowners, mining companies, railroads and factories as unpaid labor.
    — Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Oct. 2026
  • The economist William Nordhaus has shown that only two percent of the value created by innovations of the past, including railroads, airlines, and the Internet, went to the companies that built these networks.
    — RUCHIR SHARMA, Foreign Affairs, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of railroads
Noun
  • The force, which rose to a peak of about 5,000 troops over the summer, has supported arrest operations, patrolled city streets and neighborhoods, and participated in cleanup efforts.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Video from the scene obtained by CNN showed ambulances rushing through narrow streets and crowds gathered outside the school building.
    — Sophia Saifi, CNN Money, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of streets
Noun
  • Russia’s constant attacks on factories, energy supply systems and the railways means that steel supply to the Ukrainian armed forces is also being degraded.
    — Kamal Ahmed, Fortune, 12 Oct. 2026
  • Recent Russian targets have included energy systems, key industries, railways, post offices, shopping centers, telecom networks, gas stations and grain exports.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 10 Oct. 2026
Definition of railways
Noun
  • The resulting long lineups snake out from working gas stations into the main thoroughfares of Moscow and other Russian cities.
    — Fred Weir, Christian Science Monitor, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Rancho Cordova was awarded more than $3 million in grants from a local agency for two road improvement projects on major city thoroughfares.
    — Camryn Dadey, Sacbee.com, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of thoroughfares
Noun
  • By the time the coffee shop building was going up at the end of the route in 1959, Fresco said, interstate freeways were already beginning to usurp Route 66’s role and the Santa Monica route of Interstate 10 had been plotted.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2026
  • Director Christopher Nolan uses the premise to stage spectacular sequences where cars reverse down freeways at high speed, cause and effect goes topsy-turvy, and fights are just, well, weird.
    — Richard Edwards, Space.com, 10 Oct. 2026
Definition of freeways
Noun
  • Its aim is to make rail practical for shipments that are often moved by trucks because conventional freight trains are less flexible on shorter routes.
    — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 11 Oct. 2026
  • But Huang regards it as just another attractor in the landscape — albeit a potentially catastrophic one — that can be all too easily accessed by many different routes.
    — Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 9 Oct. 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 17 Oct. 2026.

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