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railway

American  
[reyl-wey] / ˈreɪlˌweɪ /

noun

  1. a rail line with lighter-weight equipment and roadbed than a main-line railroad.

  2. a railroad, especially one operating over relatively short distances.

  3. Also called trackway.  any line or lines of rails forming a road of flanged-wheel equipment.

  4. Chiefly British. railroad.

railway British  
/ ˈreɪlˌweɪ /

noun

  1. a permanent track composed of a line of parallel metal rails fixed to sleepers, for transport of passengers and goods in trains

  2. any track on which the wheels of a vehicle may run

    a cable railway

  3. the entire equipment, rolling stock, buildings, property, and system of tracks used in such a transport system

  4. the organization responsible for operating a railway network

  5. (modifier) of, relating to, or used on a railway or railways

    a railway engine

    a railway strike
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of railway

First recorded in 1770–80; rail 1 + way 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Harry Potter: A Hogwarts Express Adventure will open at the Southern California Railway Museum this summer for guests to experience the Wizarding World rite of passage aboard a real moving train in the Inland Empire.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026

Worth noting: the China-Iran Railway was struck earlier this week, hitting a key piece of infrastructure.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 9, 2026

An intended journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway in mid-2020 turned out to be poorly timed.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 22, 2026

West Midlands Railway, which has routes across the whole of the West Midlands, said it had increased the percentage of female trainee drivers in its workforce by nearly 9% since 2021, from 13.8% to 22.5%.

From BBC • Mar. 21, 2026

About one hundred yards up that hill ran the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway tracks, where black and navy-blue trains with a yellow Cheshire cat painted on them rumbled through town twice daily, morning and evening.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.