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
The finance minister also repeated his call to meet the Chancellor in a bid to secure additional funding from Westminster which could pave the way for the executive to agree a budget.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 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
One weathered old hobo told the preacher that if he wanted more pilgrims on that road to heaven, they should pave it with pork and beans instead of onion soup.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
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
I soon left this danger behind, and then struck a pavé road and a railway line.
From 13 Days The Chronicle of an Escape from a German Prison by John Alan Lyde Caunter
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
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
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
"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 thought only paves the way for the experience.
From Christianity As Mystical Fact And The Mysteries of Antiquity by Harry Collison
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
That delivery model—which relies on contracting smaller firms that hire, train and manage fleets of workers—has also paved a path to business ownership for operators, Amazon noted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 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
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
When Joey opens her eyes, she sees a paved road lined with long, low buildings.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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
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
From a military perspective, tensions have been raised another notch by the deal announced on Wednesday, paving the way for US firms to help Saudi Arabia develop its own domestic civil nuclear power programme.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Canada on Tuesday joined the project as an "observer", paving the way for it to become a full member.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
We leave the office, and I am hurting so much, I want to sit on the paving stones and cry.
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.
