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
[peyv]
/ peɪv /
verb (used with object)
-
paves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
paved,
past participle, past
-
paving
present participle
noun
idioms
pavé
2
American
[puh-vey, pav-ey, pa -vey]
/ 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:
That measurement helped pave the way for future research into matter-antimatter asymmetries in the neutrino sector.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
Whether it burns—and how badly—depends mostly on people: how much fuel we let accumulate, how quickly we detect and douse flames, and how much land we farm, fragment and pave.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Venezuelans are hopeful the dialogue will eventually pave the way for holding elections in the crisis-hit South American country.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
In Florida, a constitutional amendment would pave the way to ending many property-tax bills for full-time residents.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 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
I studied the tiny pavé diamonds covering the elaborate flower design.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2024
It’s not that the watch is hideous; it’s more that the 150 hand-placed Czech crystal pavé setting and link bracelet ooze of ostentatious glitz.
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
As I had promised to pay for speed, it was not long before the wheels of my hackney rattled over the pavé of the Rue Saint Luis.
From The Quadroon Adventures in the Far West by Mayne Reid
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
Mediators are using a lull in the fighting to patch together a quick fix to reopen the strait, hoping it paves the way for substantive talks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 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
It follows veteran Labour politician and rival Andy Burnham's victory in a by-election on Friday, which paves the way for the 56-year-old to challenge the beleaguered Starmer to be party leader and prime minister.
From Barron's ● Jun. 21, 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
This point, introduced here, paves the way for the lesson of the wild horse.
From The Tree-Dwellers by Howard V. Brown
Featuring tracks like “Savage” and “Selfish,” the critically acclaimed project paved the way for them to release two hit sequels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
This event wiped out much of the life on the planet and paved the way for the diversification of new groups of animals.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
He is seven miles from the nearest paved road, and two and a half hours' drive from the closest town of any size.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
The ruling paved the way for college athletes to receive NIL compensation, and five years later, in 2026, the NIL economy is estimated to be worth $2.7 billion, per Opendorse.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
The princess ended up in the plaza below with a full head of steam, and she carved down and around the wide paved street, using her kierie as a rudder.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
The president has weighed in on paving stones, marble, flagpoles and other aesthetic details around the White House as he reshapes the presidential grounds.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
Melton quickly fixed nearly 1,000 broken streetlights and doubled the city’s spending on paving.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Backus and Enquist set the foundation for what softball is today, paving the way for new opportunities by sacrificing for the greater good of softball’s future.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
After Andy Burnham was elected in the Makerfield by-election last month, paving his way to Downing Street, he automatically had to resign as Greater Manchester's mayor.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Two days after leaving Ento, the road narrowed and became packed dirt instead of paving stones.
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
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.
