freeway
Americannoun
-
freeways
plural
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an express highway with no intersections, usually having traffic routed on and off by means of a cloverleaf.
-
a toll-free highway.
noun
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another name for expressway
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a major road that can be used without paying a toll
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of freeway
Compare meaning
How does freeway compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A freeway is a busy, divided road with several lanes heading in both directions. The freeway is often to quickest way to get where you're going, unless there's a traffic jam or an accident slowing things down. People often use the terms freeway and highway interchangeably, and there's also parkway and expressway — or motorway, if you're in the UK. Traffic moves fast on the freeway, and its access is limited to exits that lead to and from smaller local roads and streets. There are no traffic signals on the freeway, but a crash or road work can sometimes bring traffic to a complete stop.
Vocabulary lists containing freeway
The Distance Between Us
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Land of the Cranes
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We Were Here
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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:
Both of my trips home from the airport, a 15-mile trip on the freeway, took 48 minutes, double the usual.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
“We agree on all the major stuff,” he said from his car on a Southern California freeway.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
He reportedly had completed nearly 6,000 trips with a 4.96 rating and didn’t have previous incidents involving unsafe freeway stops or rider injury.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
In August 2023, according to the release, Normandin-Parker’s friend, Luna Moore, got sick in the Uber and the driver, Vu Tran, stopped at a freeway gore point, the triangular area by the freeway’s off-ramp.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
When they finally do, the car zooms forward, the tires screeching a little as we swerve onto the street that leads to the freeway.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
Potential compromises: Because there are no major freeways, traffic on surface streets is often quite congested.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
There were a few small banners on lamp posts along freeways and a few billboards but it felt like functional promotion rather than excitement.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
The California Highway Patrol also closed sections of the westbound 60 and 10 freeways as the fire spread Monday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
He enjoyed driving and over the years, graduated to luxurious vehicles from the $1,000 Ford Falcon in which he first took to the freeways.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Only thing is, he’s not used to our freeways and traffic that we get nowadays.
From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson
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.
