noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of boardwalk
Explanation
A boardwalk is a wooden path along a beach. In some places, it’s just a walkway over the marshes, but in others, it’s where all the action is, like in the song from the 1960’s “Under the Boardwalk.” Some boardwalks are simply wooden walkways, built so pedestrians can stroll near the water without damaging seaside plants or getting sand in their shoes. Other boardwalks are much larger commercial areas, often even built with concrete rather than wood. One famous boardwalk, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, gives tourists a place to gamble, eat, drink, and buy souvenirs. This boardwalk is, in fact, considered the first in the US and is credited with inspiring the word itself.
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.
See Examples For:
The powerful surf exacerbated by the morning's high tide slammed into coastal communities, including Long Beach, where signficiant sections of the boardwalk crumbled under the pounding waves and several homes suffered serious structural damage.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
In Long Beach, where waves slammed into the seawall and homes, crews have been reinforcing portions of the boardwalk and are distributing sandbags.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
Alex Srour told CBS 8 that he was riding his bike on the boardwalk when he heard someone scream, “Watch out.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
A mile-long boardwalk overlooks the beach, as does the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve, which has its own popular blufftop trail.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
The boardwalk is crowded now, cyclists and joggers whizzing by.
From "Piecing Me Together" by Renée Watson
For instance, an association covering single-family housing doesn’t deal with issues such as environmental risks or maintenance of things like boardwalks that a single-family beach HOA may have to tackle.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
Tackling the High Fens fire was made much harder by the fens' terrain -- a patchwork of heath, peat bogs and raised wooden boardwalks.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
He recommends visitors hike the Curonian Spit—a thin 61-mile stretch of sand dunes along the Baltic Sea—and cross the wooden boardwalks that span Estonia’s wetlands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Paths have been resurfaced, stiles removed, boardwalks built and bridges installed.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
He even offered to row them there, but he wanted too high a fee and so instead they went the long way, threading around drowned and rotting streets, down floating boardwalks.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
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.
