noun
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US and Canadian word: sidewalk. a hard-surfaced path for pedestrians alongside and a little higher than a road
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a paved surface, esp one that is a thoroughfare
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the material used in paving
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civil engineering the hard layered structure that forms a road carriageway, airfield runway, vehicle park, or other paved areas
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geology a level area of exposed rock resembling a paved road See limestone pavement
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of pavement
1250–1300; Middle English < Old French < Latin pavīmentum. See pave, -ment
Explanation
Pavement is a hard surface that's covered in concrete or asphalt, like a road or a driveway. If you wipe out on your bike and land on the pavement, you may end up with skinned knees or scraped elbows. When pavement is newly surfaced or patched, it's smooth and even — but after a long, cold winter pavement is often full of potholes and cracks. In the US, pavement most often refers to a road or street, but it can also mean any paved surface, like a sidewalk or paved area in a park. The word has a Latin root, pavimentum, "level surface that's been beaten firm."
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 took 11 seconds for all the jet’s wheels to get on the pavement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
"Life starts somewhere, so I've started here," said Lohbip El-Pius Binyir, who runs a money transfer point and also sells bread, biscuits and drinks from a small pavement stall in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
Across the lot in an unused patch of pavement, pops of bright orange and yellow reach skyward toward the imposing barbed wire that’s laced atop metal security bars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Where possible, opt to walk on uneven surfaces, such as grass, sand or gravel, instead of pavement.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
When a coworker shouted at her to get out of the building, she moved to the parking lot, where the ground beneath the pavement had liquefied.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
Across the pavements, residential areas and public spaces of African cities, the informal economy is booming under the noses of authorities, who are often powerless to stop it.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
On a street in Ivory Coast's economic capital, Abidjan, municipal officers were in pursuit of informal vendors who had set up their stalls on the pavements and, in some cases, the roads.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
You note that California’s new tire regulations are “perilous” because they may increase stopping distances on wet pavements.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
You may be spotting bodies of dead bumblebees lying across pavements near you in the summer months.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
“Want to come up, Sophie?” said Coram, because dæmon or not, Sophonax was a cat, and the pavements were drenched; but she said, “Better not.”
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
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.
