a pavement.
Jewelry. a setting of stones placed close together so as to show no metal between them.
to cover (a road, path, etc) with a firm surface suitable for travel, as with paving stones or concrete
to serve as the material for a pavement or other hard layer
bricks paved the causeway
(often foll by with) to cover with a hard layer (of)
shelves paved with marble
to prepare or make easier (esp in the phrase pave the way )
to pave the way for future development
a paved surface, esp an uneven one
a style of setting gems so closely that no metal shows
1275–1325; Middle English paven < Middle French paver < Vulgar Latin *pavare, for Latin pavīre to beat, ram, tread down
1755–65; < French, past participle of paver. See pave
To pave is to coat or cover with a very hard material, like concrete, asphalt, or stone. It's easier to shovel snow from your driveway after you pave it. When road crews pour hot asphalt on the street, they pave it, and when the city creates new sidewalks in your town, they may pave them with bricks or concrete. The colloquial expression "to pave the way for" means to set up a situation that allows something to happen more easily — for example, if your parents read you books from the time you were very small, they helped pave the way for you to love reading.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
If successful, the effort could pave the way for giving other satellites a second life.
From Barron's • Jun. 30, 2026
Some bad luck in China and Japan after Australia helped pave the way for Antonelli to develop his winning momentum.
From BBC • Jun. 28, 2026
The ruling could pave the way for the dismissal of thousands of cases against Bayer.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 25, 2026
In the aftermath, Samuel went under the radar — but after a year or two, he started to pave a way forward.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 25, 2026
But writing something that isn’t good might pave the way to something great, like Erica said.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
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.
