freeway
Americannoun
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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:
A woman wonders about the continuity of all things, musing “In the distance over the horizon, that freeway just keeps going and going; it’s all connected.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The round house is one of seven residences on a 2.25-acre site next to the freeway.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
By the time officers arrived in the area, the man had moved south on Normandie Avenue and officers found him at the 10 freeway underpass, the department said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
The two-lane carriageway in the sky was one of the first sections of the M4 and a relic of the 1960s freeway building boom after the explosion in postwar car ownership.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Think of the Earth’s orbit as a kind of freeway on which we are the only vehicle, but which is crossed regularly by pedestrians who don’t know enough to look before stepping off the curb.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
Potential compromises: Because there are no major freeways, traffic on surface streets is often quite congested.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
The state issued a strong warning urging residents to prepare for a large aftershock, and urged residents to stay off the freeways if possible.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
As a place that came of age with the automobile, Los Angeles is a sprawl of freeways with a public transport system that would embarrass any medium-sized European city.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
Meanwhile, the firm has temporarily pulled its service on freeways in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Miami, and said it was evaluating its cars' performance in construction zones.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
Aerial footage shows cars abandoned at the edges of freeways and side streets.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
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.
