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 Police urged residents to stay off the roads while cleanup and recovery efforts continue. — Ross Dimattei, CBS News, 21 Aug. 2026 That becomes particularly dangerous in cities, where roads, parking lots and buildings prevent rain from soaking into the ground. — Brandi D. Addison, USA Today, 20 Aug. 2026 On Tuesday, developers with Boise’s Conger Group secured the Meridian City Council’s blessing to annex roughly 20 acres of land southeast of Lake Hazel and Locust Grove roads and build 167 houses there. — Rose Evans august 20, Idaho Statesman, 20 Aug. 2026 Hurricane Lala tore roofs off houses, uprooted trees, covered roads in mud and rocks and left many households without electricity. — ABC News, 20 Aug. 2026 The network of 187 miles of toll roads — the Tri-State Tollway, Northwest Tollway and East-West Tollway — opened before Christmas 1958, as promised. — Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2026 The roads, repaved every four years for the inauguration, were of pristine quality. — Adam Kilgore, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2026 The nearby units were also evacuated, and some roads near the restaurant were temporarily closed. — Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 20 Aug. 2026 Drone footage shared by the city showed houses, vehicles and roads submerged in muddy floodwater. — Dalia Faheid, CNN Money, 14 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for roads
  1. highways
  2. railroads
  3. streets
  4. railways
  5. thoroughfares
  6. freeways
  7. routes
  8. expressways
Noun
  • Social media put the storm’s effects on display, with videos of floodwaters leaving cars stranded on highways, stormwater runoff erupting onto city streets and waterfalls cascading onto the subway tracks at Penn Station.
    — Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Abdeen drove across the highways of newly independent countries.
    — Rozina Ali, New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of highways
Noun
  • The rapid expansion of railroads allowed products to be distributed far beyond local markets.
    — Britannica Editors, Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Aug. 2026
  • While the railroads take sides on the issue, some lawmakers have sought to sway the STB into rejecting the megamerger.
    — Glenn Taylor, Footwear News, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of railroads
Noun
  • Among the changes needed on the city’s streets was the welding of more than 200 manhole covers to ensure the race cars don’t suck them up off the road.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 23 Aug. 2026
  • The city feels theatrical and alive, with open-air theaters, cinemas, and a vibrant arts scene that spills into its streets.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Aug. 2026
Definition of streets
Noun
  • The Lobito Corridor is an economic artery comprised of ports, railways, processing facilities, and logistics hubs connecting the Angolan port of Lobito with the mineral-rich Katanga region of the DRC and northern Zambia.
    — Ariel Cohen, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026
  • More than 14 inches of rain fell in a 24-hour period in parts of Chiba, which sits east of Tokyo, overwhelming roads and railways during one of Japan's busiest holiday travel weeks.
    — Anthony Thompson, USA Today, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of railways
Noun
  • The councilmember acknowledged the overhaul of Hopkins Street was a monumental decision, one that would reshape transportation on one of the major thoroughfares connecting East and West Berkeley.
    — Chase Hunter, Mercury News, 17 Aug. 2026
  • For example, in the San Fernando Valley, a person could leave the car at home when in walking proximity to bus lines on major thoroughfares, such as Line 165 on Vanowen Street that connects Burbank to West Hills.
    — Steve Scauzillo, Daily News, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of thoroughfares
Noun
  • Born to Mary Florence Webb, a nurse, and John Sherman Heilmann, a civil engineer, Heilmann split her childhood between the Bay Area and, after her father took a job building freeways, Los Angeles, by way of El Segundo, a seaside village nearby.
    — Harrison Jacobs, ARTnews.com, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Even the buildings themselves — a trio of vast, anonymous boxes tucked into the crook of two freeways — were plagued with problems.
    — Jesse Coburn, ProPublica, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of freeways
Noun
  • While the long-legged aisle-hoggers among us might not relate, travelers lucky enough to settle into the window seat on certain flight routes can look forward to quite the show ahead of touchdown.
    — Connor Sturges, Condé Nast Traveler, 18 Aug. 2026
  • Oman has reportedly been working with Iran on a plan to define transit routes for shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
    — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of routes
Noun
  • 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
  • Homicide data from the Illinois State Police, which patrols the city’s expressways, also is not included here.
    — Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 26 May 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 24 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of roads for Spanish Speakers

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