autobahn

American  

[aw-tuh-bahn, ou-taw-bahn] / ˈɔ təˌbɑn, ˈaʊ tɔˌbɑn /

noun

plural

autobahns,

plural

autobahnen

1. (in Germany and Austria) a superhighway; expressway.

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autobahn British  

/ ˈɔːtəˌbɑːn /

noun

1. a motorway in German-speaking countries

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Etymology

Origin of autobahn

1935–40; < German, equivalent to Auto auto + Bahn road, way

Example Sentences

Mr. Miller’s idea of creating segregated lanes or pursuing similar infrastructural innovation for self-driving cars could be worthwhile if we want, say, a high-speed autonomous autobahn.

From The Wall Street Journal

Unlike elsewhere on the autobahn, the median strip on this 3.5-mile section isn’t grassy but solid tarmac.

From The Wall Street Journal

Todt’s success with the autobahn earned him promotion to lead all of Hitler’s construction programs, and in 1940 he was named the Reich’s armaments minister.

From The Wall Street Journal

Today, dropped into phone calls, Zoom squares and social-media feeds, our brains feel, as Mr. Rein puts it, “out of place, an archaic tool,” like “a horse-drawn carriage on the autobahn.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Hitler, as the cliché goes, built the autobahns, and Nazi Germany developed technologies like synthetic fuels, optical equipment and space flight that were ahead of the Western democracies.

From Salon