pave
verb (used with object)
to cover or lay (a road, walk, etc.) with concrete, stones, bricks, tiles, wood, or the like, so as to make a firm, level surface.
pave
1 American
[payv]
/ peɪv /
verb (used with object)
-
paves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
paved,
past participle, past
-
paving
present participle
noun
idioms
pavé
2
American
[puh-vay, pav-ay, pa -vay]
/ pəˈveɪ, ˈpæv eɪ, paˈveɪ /
noun
-
pavés
plural
-
a pavement.
-
Jewelry. a setting of stones placed close together so as to show no metal between them.
adverb
adjective
pave
1
British
/ peɪv /
verb
-
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
pavé
2
British
/ ˈpæveɪ /
noun
-
a paved surface, esp an uneven one
-
a style of setting gems so closely that no metal shows
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pavesimple
-
pavessimple
-
have pavedperfect
-
has pavedperfect
-
am pavingprogressive
-
are pavingprogressive
-
is pavingprogressive
-
have been pavingperfect progressive
-
has been pavingperfect progressive
Past
-
pavedsimple
-
had pavedperfect
-
was pavingprogressive
-
were pavingprogressive
-
had been pavingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pave1
1275–1325; Middle English paven < Middle French paver < Vulgar Latin *pavare, for Latin pavīre to beat, ram, tread down
Origin of pavé2
1755–65; < French, past participle of paver. See pave
Explanation
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.
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:
The panel hope that an official definition will pave the way for better diagnosis and treatment.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
A listing could pave the way for Seven & i to secure a higher valuation, closing the stock-price gap that made it an attractive target for foreign takeovers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Allowing the contributions to the group trust could pave the way for future big-time stock donations by companies and individuals, according to IRS regulations released earlier this week.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
The findings could pave the way for clinical trials testing sEH inhibitors in chronic inflammatory conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis and cardiovascular disease.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026
Gold is probably the worst material one could use to pave a street.
From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman
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
On November 23 a move was made to Busnes, the first part of the route being over badly cut up second-class roads, and the remainder on pavé.
From The 23rd (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers (First Sportsman's) A Record of its Services in the Great War, 1914-1919 by Fred W. Ward
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
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 James Fenimore Cooper
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 George A. (George Alfred) Lawrence
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
Namibia has granted environmental clearance for an offshore phosphate mining project that paves the way for the world's first commercial seabed-dredging operation for the mineral, despite opposition from green groups and the fishing industry.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
Evading plot holes, “It Ends” paves over the obvious biological needs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
She hoped by being one of the first to try the new treatment, it "paves the way for others".
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
Also, the telecom conglomerate’s InfraNexia Phase 2 fiber transfer project paves the way for a strategic partnership process that could unlock embedded infrastructure value.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
Yet all too cheap the patterned stone That paves kings' palaces, to feel The pressure of her gaiter's heel.
From The Two Twilights by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers
The legislation paved the way for the creation of California’s nation-leading carbon market, cap-and-invest, which launched in 2013.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
We’re all paying the nauseating price now, and anyone who paved the way is complicit.
From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2026
The South African judge was recognised "for her efforts to promote peace and international law", which paved the way for a "more comprehensive global legal order", the Nobel committee said.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
A settlement paved the way for it to move forward—just as yields were jumping.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
We walk and walk and walk, all down through town and past the graveyard and over the long strips of paved road where mirages shimmer in the sun.
From "Hurricane Child" by Kheryn Callender
In a debate earlier this week, Bass highlighted her accomplishments in paving the way for new affordable housing, while Raman asserted that housing production is still lagging and Bass isn’t doing enough.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
The encounter would end up paving the way to a pivotal computing deal between the two men’s companies a decade later.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
"These investigations exemplify how Artemis and Moon Base are expanding the frontier of lunar exploration, advancing innovative technologies, deepening our understanding of the Moon's environment, and paving the way for future astronaut missions."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
Fed officials had been hoping that inflation pressures would subside over time, potentially even paving the way for more rate cuts.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 13, 2026
The bag smacks my soldier straight in the mustache, and he goes over backward onto the paving stones.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
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