route 1 of 2

noun

ˈrüt How to pronounce route (audio)
Definition of routenext
1
as in road
a passage cleared for public vehicular travel take Route 190 for six miles, then get off

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in path
an established course for traveling from one place to another we're going to get stuck in traffic if we take the usual route

Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in way
the direction along which something or someone moves hurricanes generally take a northerly route up the Atlantic seaboard

Synonyms & Similar Words

route

2 of 2

verb

as in to guide
to point out the way for (someone) especially from a position in front the guide routed us smoothly through the jungle

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 route
Noun
Overland routes and the Caspian Sea conspire against any attempt to hermetically seal Iran, even if the capacity of these passageways cannot compensate for the closing of naval routes and dwindling air links. — Ali Vaez, Foreign Affairs, 29 Sep. 2026 The drones spent 34 minutes navigating a preset route across 1,640 feet of water. — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 29 Sep. 2026
Verb
Murphy warned that once the backlog clears, Golden Week factory shutdowns will crater demand just as capacity freed by vessels returning to the faster Suez Canal routing on the back-haul flood the market. — Glenn Taylor, Footwear News, 23 Sep. 2026 Elsewhere in the broader PasteSwitch operation, Windows users could be routed through Run or PowerShell-based attack paths. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 23 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for route
Recent Examples of Synonyms for route
  1. road
  2. path
  3. way
  4. guide
  5. highway
  6. approach
  7. steer
  8. thoroughfare
Noun
  • And neither Atlanta Public Schools nor Atlanta fire had answers for why buses and a firetruck were not told the road was blocked.
    — Doug Turnbull, AJC.com, 27 Sep. 2026
  • And the road toward whatever the final destination is starts now.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of road
Noun
  • The British civil wars were, in part, fought because people wanted to create their own religious paths, but unfortunately that freedom did not generally lead to a kinder Christianity.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026
  • This unique propagation gives rise to wave trajectories with directional rotation, or handedness, which dictates whether paths rotate clockwise or counterclockwise.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of path
Noun
  • Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play isn’t a musical, but about two-thirds of the way through, there’s a sing-off that’s both a gleeful showstopper and a wry metatheatrical treat.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 29 Sep. 2026
  • Vaccine skepticism is also in some ways an outgrowth of our modern wellness culture.
    — Nicholas Florko, STAT, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of way
Verb
  • The guiding principle is an 80/20 sourcing philosophy that means just 20% of the food is imported while 80% is from the archipelago.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Trask, who grow up under the demanding eye of father Cyrus (Tracy Letts), a one-legged Civil War hero who guides them with military rigor.
    — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of guide
Noun
  • It’s been used to raise funds for Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, a Minnesota woman caught using a racist slur on camera and to support Canadian truckers who blocked highways in protest of Covid restrictions.
    — David K. Li, NBC news, 28 Sep. 2026
  • This section of the two-lane road has been carved directly into the red-quartzite cliffs of the Uncompahgre Gorge, and almost none of it has a shoulder; in some places, the highway is only twenty-three feet wide.
    — Peter Hessler, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of highway
Noun
  • The stone leans toward or away from the steel; the steel approaches or withdraws from the stone.
    — Barry Schwabsky, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Raffles Bali also takes a responsible approach to waste management, using compost fertilizer made from kitchen and landscape waste and repurposing calcium carbonate-rich eggshells from the restaurants for organic fertilizer in the herb garden.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of approach
Verb
  • Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise steered the movies in a new darker direction, scoring $147M globally.
    — Greg Evans, Deadline, 26 Sep. 2026
  • Spithill steers Oracle’s space-age, 72-foot catamaran to its eighth straight victory, speeding past Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand in the winner-take-all Race 19 on San Francisco Bay.
    — Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of steer
Noun
  • This, Rostov’s main thoroughfare, wasn’t illuminated by the familiar bright glare of its many street lamps, or by light from its windows, now blacked out, but emerged from the darkness all the more gently in a milky cloak of moonlight.
    — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2026
  • 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
Definition of thoroughfare

Browse Nearby Words

rout
route
routed
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Route.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/route. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on route

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about route

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