Road Definition: Description, Examples, Practice

Read these instances carefully to learn various applications of this word as well as singular and plural forms.

There are many descriptive words you can use in place of “road” that allow you to emphasize its purpose, whether it is a path for pedestrians or a highway for cars.

Related nouns: traffic infrastructure pavement

Synonyms (contextual): highway freeway street path

Common collocations: road network road traffic build a road

To make your writing more interesting and informative, learn connected words with different parts of speech to cover many discussion topics.

With adjectives: main road busy road paved road narrow road long road

With verbs: repair a road pave a road cross a road block a road

With nouns (noun + noun): road trip road sign road safety road map

The meaning of “road” in idioms doesn’t always match the one above, as in most cases, they help discuss imaginative or figurative ideas rather than a real, visible road.

• A rocky road — refers to the hardships a person experiences in their life on the way to their goal.

  When I decided to become a journalist, I didn’t expect such a rocky road to success.

• A well-travelled road — used to talk about choosing a life course that has been trodden by others before.

  I’d better choose the well-traveled road of my parents and become a doctor.

• On the road — describes travelling in a vehicle, including extended trips, like band tours and business journeys.

  We have been on the road since Monday, and I’m already exhausted.

Check whether it is easy for you to define “road” in the following workouts and find out how well you understand collocations and idioms.

What about making a stop to get some cultural insights? Discover the pronunciation of “road” in the most popular European languages.

Knowing how to spell “road” is cool, but what about some interesting stories? Where do you think the early roads appeared? What was the real impact of the Silk Road? What will roads look like in the future? Check the answers below:

• The first roads were built around 4000-3000 BCE

  In the ancient world, roads that connected cities had already existed. In Egypt, they were built with logs and bricks, paving the way to the pyramids. The Mesopotamians used clay to clear the paths from Babylon to Ur and Uruk.

• The Silk Road enabled cultural exchanges between the West and China

  The path that connected traders from China and Western countries, which extended to about 4,000 km, was also a channel through which languages, food, religions, and experiences spread into countries along this route.

• 145 kilometres of Eyre Highway in Australia is straight

  This is the longest section of the road without curves. It was built in the forties and was fully paved in the seventies. Eyre Highway is popular with tourists because it is a remote place where you can see wildlife.

• Digital roads are a possible future of our infrastructure

  The University of Cambridge, in collaboration with business, is conducting research on how to make roads safer and greener with digital technology. Some other organizations say that solar road panels will replace asphalt roads soon.

What does “road” mean to writers? For many, it is an eternal source of inspiration for describing the rocky road of their characters and the struggles they may face when making decisions. Let’s read some of these ideas:

— Lewis Carroll, “Alice in Wonderland”

Explanation: This line indicates that if you haven’t decided what your goal is, there is no need to worry about which way to choose, because eventually you will come somewhere.

— Jack Kerouac, “On the Road”

Explanation: The author mentions that his character feels free when he is on the road, because he moves forward, and ahead is a life full of new opportunities and experiences.

— John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, “The Fellowship of the Ring”

Explanation: This part of the song from the iconic adventure story reminds us that our journey is never-ending, and it continues from one place to another, without understanding where this way leads us.