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
Newcastle are now finalising a move for Fernandez-Pardo, which could pave the way for fellow forward Nick Woltemade to leave on loan following interest from Juventus.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 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
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
They taught metrics and agriculture: how to count potatoes, how to pave roads, chop wood, till the soil.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
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
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
Released on April 10, the three-piece collection includes a standout, massive 7.90-carat Lucky Move Smiley necklace with a pavé setting made up of hundreds of yellow and white diamonds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 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 authorities are improving things, but it will be some time yet before Belgium is as free from pavé as is France.
From The Automobilist Abroad by M. F. (Milburg Francisco) Mansfield
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
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 George A. (George Alfred) Lawrence
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
The first kind of investigation rises little above mere natural history; but the other is more important and paves the way for metaphysics.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon" by Various
“Tigi Tigi” paved the way for further collaborations between Arab and Latin artists, including Gente de Zona and Mohammed Assaf in 2017’s “Baddek Enaya,” or Karol G and Lartiste’s 2019 track “Peligrosa.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
That decision paved the way for the law to go into effect Tuesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
It urged legal changes and funding to help municipalities and cities unseal paved surfaces that store heat and to plant vastly more trees.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
However, his signing for Canterbury and the Crusaders, along with an injury to Billy Proctor, has paved the way for his comeback.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
As she made to follow Chaol, she noticed a tile on the paved pathway.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
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
At an impromptu press conference last week, US President Donald Trump waxed lyrical about his helipad, his ballroom and his granite paving stones.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 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
A pair of bare feet, bluish in the cold, catching on the uneven paving stones of the alley.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
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.
