noun
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US and Canadian word: sidewalk. a hard-surfaced path for pedestrians alongside and a little higher than a road
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a paved surface, esp one that is a thoroughfare
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the material used in paving
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civil engineering the hard layered structure that forms a road carriageway, airfield runway, vehicle park, or other paved areas
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geology a level area of exposed rock resembling a paved road See limestone pavement
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of pavement
1250–1300; Middle English < Old French < Latin pavīmentum. See pave, -ment
Explanation
Pavement is a hard surface that's covered in concrete or asphalt, like a road or a driveway. If you wipe out on your bike and land on the pavement, you may end up with skinned knees or scraped elbows. When pavement is newly surfaced or patched, it's smooth and even — but after a long, cold winter pavement is often full of potholes and cracks. In the US, pavement most often refers to a road or street, but it can also mean any paved surface, like a sidewalk or paved area in a park. The word has a Latin root, pavimentum, "level surface that's been beaten firm."
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:
"Life starts somewhere, so I've started here," said Lohbip El-Pius Binyir, who runs a money transfer point and also sells bread, biscuits and drinks from a small pavement stall in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
In Cairo, Xi received a lavish welcome on Tuesday evening, with Egypt’s president and his wife, together with an honor guard, all awaiting the Chinese delegation on the airport’s red-carpeted pavement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
In an undeveloped eastern part of the city, the caravan turned off the pavement and bumped along a dirt road to an opening in the Joshua trees where a broken-down recreational vehicle came into view.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
"As we were walking, there were two groups of bikes coming down the pavement," she says.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
It’s a mirage, Khalid told me once—like the mirages you see way out in the middle of a desert, but instead, they shimmer over the cracked pavement and potholes of our little town.
From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender
A giant guitar sculpture dominates the central square, guitar murals adorn walls and pavements and even the rubbish bins are shaped like guitars.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
You note that California’s new tire regulations are “perilous” because they may increase stopping distances on wet pavements.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
Across social media there are videos showing large groups of riders travelling together on roads, pavements and public rights of way.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
You may be spotting bodies of dead bumblebees lying across pavements near you in the summer months.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
It was the middle of the afternoon, but the village seemed to be asleep, the boats bobbing in the harbor, the streets and pavements empty.
From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz
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.
