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:
It warned the second nest, established last year, was "quite close to the boardwalk and is vulnerable to disturbance".
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Airbnb after a long, hot day walking the boardwalk, we had our first chance to manage a letdown, together.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
Even George W. Bush — the bumbling boardwalk caricature that he is — could deliver a State of the Union address without going off-prompter.
From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2026
Take a stroll on the surrounding boardwalk for glimpses of snow-covered bison.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
At six-thirty on a brisk Thursday morning, the ground still frozen hard, Gaylord Stuckey walked out on the boardwalk to the largest of the pools, expecting to have the place to himself.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
Hundreds of thousands of tourists a year flock to viewing areas and boardwalks to watch the diminutive sea birds waddle ashore and along the beach in the evenings on the eastern coast's Phillip Island.
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
Just a 2-mile, relatively flat hike over bridges and boardwalks will lead you to the beach, though there are steep switchbacks right before reaching it.
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2024
He had chosen it because one of the upper windows afforded a view down to the boardwalks, and also out to the ships.
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.
