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:
California lawmakers have voted to shift a state forest system away from commercial logging and pave the way for tribal co-management, delivering a win to a movement rooted in the historic timber wars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi reported "a very positive and productive meeting", saying on X he believes the "momentum will help pave the way for further progress and lasting peace in the region".
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
It has been claimed the case may pave the way for a future parade on the road being permitted.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
That doesn’t mean you can’t pave the way in an impartial manner by asking the attorney to address the issues themselves.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 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
The road was pavé in the centre—villainous pavé.
From Adventures of a Despatch Rider by William Henry Lowe Watson
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
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
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
This paves the way for rarely used powers to override objections from peers should they refuse to pass it again.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
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
"If we don't preserve nest sites, and someone paves over them, we could lose in an instant 5.5 million bees that are important pollinators."
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2026
The crops should follow each other in such succession that each crop naturally paves the way for the next one in the succession, or at least does not place its successor at a disadvantage.
From Crops and Methods for Soil Improvement by Alva Agee
Glacier Point Road, the only paved route to the park’s very popular Glacier Point, also typically closes in November.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
During his time living at the home, Evans has created multiple outdoor spaces from where the views can be enjoyed, including a secluded paved patio with deck chairs that overlook the city below.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
Scientist James Clerk Maxwell - whose work paved the way for mobile phones, radio and television - is buried in the church graveyard.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Emphasizing empathy paved the way for respectful disagreements.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
The night bombers didn’t need paved surfaces or even runways; the pilots just pointed their planes into the wind and took off from the dirt or the grass.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
Last year Washington designated several of Ecuador's top gangs as "Foreign Terrorist Organizations," expanding the legal tools available to US authorities and paving the way for closer military and intelligence cooperation.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
The state's high court denied the request, paving the way for the mistrial.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
As late as mid-2022, more people said hard work mattered more in paving a path to financial success.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
A lot has happened since then, with millions of albums sold, world tours and, yes, they did lead the next generation with their harder-edged sound paving the way for acts like Ateez and Stray Kids.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
I run across Tatarska and throw myself at him, and his package goes rolling down the paving stones.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
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.
