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What is the difference between road and highway?

road | highway |

As nouns the difference between road and highway

is that road is the act of riding on horseback while highway is a main, direct public road, especially a multi-lane, high speed thoroughfare connecting major population centers.

road

English

(wikipedia road)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (obsolete) The act of riding on horseback.
  • (obsolete) A hostile ride against a particular area; a raid.
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.8:
    • There dwelt a salvage nation, which did live / Of stealth and spoile, and making nightly rode / Into their neighbours borders […].
  • (nautical, often, in the plural) A partly sheltered area of water near a shore in which vessels may ride at anchor.
  • * 1630 , , True Travels , in Kupperman 1988, p. 38:
    • There delivering their fraught, they went to Scandaroone; rather to view what ships was in the Roade , than any thing else [...].
  • A way used for travelling between places, originally one wide enough to allow foot passengers and horses to travel, now usually one surfaced with asphalt or concrete and designed to accommodate many vehicles travelling in both directions.
  • * {{quote-book, 1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, chapter=The Tutor's Daughter, Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion, page=266 citation
    • , passage=In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road .}}
  • * , chapter=1
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for.}}
  • (figuratively) A path chosen in life or career.
  • * Ronald Reagan: A Time for Choosing (1964).
    • Where, then, is the road to peace?
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=September 7, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
    • , tiutle= Moldova 0-5 England , passage=Hodgson may actually feel England could have scored even more but this was the perfect first step on the road to Rio in 2014 and the ideal platform for the second qualifier against Ukraine at Wembley on Tuesday.}}
  • An underground tunnel in a mine.
  • (US) A railway; (British) a single railway track.
  • (obsolete) A journey, or stage of a journey.
  • * Shakespeare
    • With easy roads he came to Leicester.

    Usage notes

    Often used interchangeably with street or other similar words. When usage is distinguished, a road is a route between settlements (reflecting the etymological relation with ride), as in the from London to Edinburgh, while a street is a route within a settlement (city or town), strictly speaking paved.

    Hyponyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * A road, A-road * access road * all roads lead to Rome * B road * back road * bump in the road * burn up the road * byroad * C road * corduroy road * crossroad * down the road * end of the road * fork in the road * frontage road * Great North road * highroad/high road * hit the road * ice road * low road * main road * middle of the road/middle-of-the-road * nonroad * offroad/off-road * on the road * one for the road * pay-per-use road * Persian Royal Road * railroad * ring road * road allowance * road apple * road case * road export * road fund licence * road gang * road hockey * road hog/road-hog * road map * road movie * road race * road rage * road rash * road sign * road to Damascus * road train * road trip * road warrior * roadability * roadbase * roadbed * roadblock * roader * roadhouse * roadie * roadkill * roadless * roadness * roadroller * roadrunner * roadshow * roadside * roadstead * roadster * roadway * roadwork * roadworks * roadworthy * rocky road * service road * slip road/sliproad * take the high road * Tobacco Road * trunk road * where the rubber meets the road * winter road * yellow brick road/Yellow Brick Road

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * 1000 English basic words ----

    highway

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A main, direct public road, especially a multi-lane, high speed thoroughfare connecting major population centers.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=7 citation , passage=The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.}}
  • (rail)  Any public road for vehicular traffic.

    • Hyponyms

    * (main public road) expressway, motorway

    See also

    *