turnpike

American  

[turn-pahyk] / ˈtɜrnˌpaɪk /

noun

• turnpikes
  plural

1. a high-speed highway, especially one maintained by tolls.

2. (formerly) a barrier set across such a highway to stop passage until a toll has been paid; tollgate.

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turnpike British  

/ ˈtɜːnˌpaɪk /

noun

1. 1. gates or some other barrier set across a road to prevent passage until a toll had been paid

   2. a road on which a turnpike was operated

2. an obsolete word for turnstile

3. a motorway for use of which a toll is charged

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• turnpikes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of turnpike

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English turnepike “road barrier” ( turnpike in def. 1, short for turnpike road ). See turn, pike ²

Explanation

A turnpike is a busy road that charges users a fee to drive on it. If you drive through a toll booth, you know you're on a turnpike. You can also call a turnpike a toll road because drivers have to pay a toll, usually when they exit, but sometimes also when they first enter the turnpike. This kind of pay-to-use road existed even before cars were invented. Today's turnpikes typically have toll plazas or booths, or special lanes equipped to collect tolls electronically. Highways that are free to use are called freeways or expressways.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

turnpike turnpikes

“For comparison purposes, consider the old toll booth approach at the tollway or turnpike 30 years ago versus the Zip Cash or Toll Tag systems we see today,” Fleming says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

Roger Hargreaves, director of Glossop Heritage Trust, said it was built as a turnpike - or toll road - to connect Sheffield with Manchester.

From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2025

The bugs are still so plentiful, the trained eye can spot them clinging to the trunks of tree of heaven while driving on the turnpike.

From National Geographic ● Aug. 31, 2023

According to troopers, Davis lost control of his Tesla sedan and it collided with the parked pickup truck on the side of the turnpike.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 5, 2023

Crossing the turnpike from the Texaco—a feat that, performed on foot, demands both speed and nerve—brings you to more substantial sources of sustenance, including a Pizza Hut and a Shop-n-Save.

From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich

Internal improvements, like roads and turnpikes, received investment to control the vast territory beyond the coasts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2025

Crashes, however, are far more likely on surface streets than on the highway: One study from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation showed that crashes were five times as common on local roads as on turnpikes.

From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2023

Like Gump, a good-hearted simpleton, who travels through milestones in US history - the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal - Chaddha's life takes him through the cultural and political turnpikes of 20th-Century India.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2022

That’s reasonable in the Eastern half of the country, the land of turnpikes and truck stops.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 20, 2020

“All the squares formerly built up solidly were now so many black excavations, while the streets had the appearance of raised turnpikes intersecting each other on a level prairie.”

From "The Great Fire" by Jim Murphy

Related Words

• expressway
• freeway
• interstate
• roadway
• state highway
• superhighway