Roadways

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A form of infrastructure that facilitates travel for vehicles and pedestrians across various surfaces
2. Routes designed to support the movement of traffic, including vehicles, bicycles, and foot traffic
3. Surfaces specially constructed to enable movement of cars, bicycles, and pedestrians across different areas

Etymology: "Roadways" is simply the plural of "roadway," and the surprising part lies in the first half of the compound. In Middle English, "road" meant riding, not a paved route: a "road" was a journey on horseback or a ride, and the old compound "rodeway" literally meant "a way for riding on." The word survives in the Middle English form "radewey," attested in "radewey-stile," a stile on a roadway. Over time the sense of "road" shifted from the act of riding to the track itself, so the compound drifted from describing a path for horses to describing a path for any traveller. The plural "roadways" now refers to the network of such routes used by vehicles.

Synonyms: roads, routes, highways, thoroughfares, streets

Antonyms: obstruction, blockage, impediment, dead end, cul-de-sac