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.
His decision to step away from the west London club appears to pave the way for him to lead a consortium of investors seeking to purchase a reported 30% stake in the Anfield club.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
An agentic Siri will pave the way for a long-term “AI-driven replacement cycle,” while new products such as a foldable iPhone will strengthen iPhone demand through 2028, Woodring noted.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
A bill currently under consideration in the California Legislature would pave the way for the hundreds of officers from other states to help police the 2028 Games.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
While later discoveries refined that picture, Bohr's model helped pave the way for modern quantum theory.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
In a few years he will graduate and pave his way, alone and unprotected.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
In person, it's dazzling, with a huge, oval-cut diamond set on a 18-karat white and rose gold diamond pavé band.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2025
Available in gold, as well as diamond pavé, letters on 14-karat-gold chains ranging from 16 to 20 inches in length.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2022
You could get a pavé setting or not.
From The Verge ● Jul. 16, 2022
Both the antique and the design it inspired have been reborn as a faceted snow quartz teardrop pendant bordered in pavé diamonds that hangs from a 30-inch yellow-gold chain.
From New York Times ● Mar. 25, 2022
Of course a limber is not quite the vehicle you would select for comfort, especially over roads that are stony or pavé.
From Q.6.a and Other places Recollections of 1916, 1917 and 1918 by Buckley, Francis
He believes the artist is referencing the student uprising in Paris in 1968, which had the slogan "sous les pavés, la plage!"
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2021
Things in “L’Écume” that seem exceptional to us, or to a bunch of idealistic students rallying, in 1968, behind the Vianesque slogan “Sous les pavés, la plage!”
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 12, 2014
Item, 4 knights, armed, keeping the sepulchre, with their weapons in their hands; that is to say, 2 axes and 2 spears, with 2 pavés.
From Notes and Queries, Number 25, April 20, 1850 by Various
I began to think, regretfully of certain rugged continental pavés execrated in days gone by; they, at least, had a firm bottom, more or less remote.
From Border and Bastille by Lawrence, George A. (George Alfred)
The old pavés are beginning to give way, however, and we actually got a bit of terre within six posts of Paris.
From Recollections of Europe by Cooper, James Fenimore
She hoped by being one of the first to try the new treatment, it "paves the way for others".
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
"By enabling robust nonreciprocal quantum synchronization, our research paves the way for realizing more reliable quantum processors and protected quantum resources," comments Lai.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 12, 2026
While much of this field is still theoretical, Google says Willow incorporates key "breakthroughs" and "paves the way to a useful, large-scale quantum computer".
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
The framework paves the way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and sets 30 to 60 days to reach a final pact on thorny issues such as Tehran’s nuclear program.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
A number of faced and dressed stones are built in haphazard among the bricks of neighbouring walls; and the rest of the Abbey, unseen and unknown, drains Chertsey's foundations and paves her streets.
From Highways and Byways in Surrey by Thomson, Hugh
The first time that the race went up there, back in 1952, the road up the 21 switchbacks wasn’t even paved.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
SpaceX has paved the way for the space industry to flourish, and its initial public offering drove investment to new heights.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
"It was so lovely to see all the past players. It was a beautiful day and it's great for the ECB to recognise those players who paved the way."
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
India and Australia entered a nuclear cooperation agreement in 2015 that paved the way for uranium exports, but legal hurdles remain and trade today is largely non-existent.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
Throughout his life, Bell created many other inventions, including those that paved the way for the development of airplanes and phonograph records.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
Wednesday to prepare for paving when water began coming up from the area.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
In 2019, the Supreme Court awarded the disputed site for construction of the temple, paving the way for a huge fundraising drive across the country to finance the project.
From Barron's ● Jul. 19, 2026
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, was dissolved Friday, paving the way for a vote in late October.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
The lawsuit delayed the roundup, also known as a gather, but in February a U.S. magistrate judge ruled in favor of the government, paving the way for it to move forward.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
“Don’t do that, Cockerell!” the flat-faced man snapped at him, spitting three times on the dusty paving stones at his feet.
From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke
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.
