pavement

American  

[peyv-muhnt] / ˈpeɪv mənt /

noun

1. a paved road, highway, etc.

2. a paved surface, ground covering, or floor.

3. a material used for paving.

4. Atlantic States and British. sidewalk.

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idioms

1. pound the pavement, to walk the streets in order to accomplish something.

   If you're going to find work you'd better start pounding the pavement.

pavement British  

/ ˈpeɪvmənt /

noun

1. US and Canadian word: sidewalk.  a hard-surfaced path for pedestrians alongside and a little higher than a road

2. a paved surface, esp one that is a thoroughfare

3. the material used in paving

4. civil engineering the hard layered structure that forms a road carriageway, airfield runway, vehicle park, or other paved areas

5. geology a level area of exposed rock resembling a paved road See limestone pavement

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pavement More Idioms  

1. see pound the pavement.

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Other Word Forms

• pavemental adjective
• prepavement noun
• subpavement noun

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

NHS healthcare assistant Rebecca Ableman, 30, was walking with her two-year-old daughter Autumn on a pavement by the B1050 in Willingham, Cambridgeshire, when she was hit from behind on 22 September 2022.

From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026

L.A. has been slow to repair pavement issues on its 23,000 miles of streets in recent years.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2026

At nearly 650,000 acres — just smaller than Yosemite — the park unfolds as a vast mosaic of mountains, badlands and open desert valleys extending far beyond the reach of the pavement.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026

Lichtenberg isn’t pounding the pavement to find and unveil secrets about institutions and power brokers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

I take in a big breath and leave the shade of that magnolia tree and walk across the street, stepping over the cracks in the pavement.

From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender

Related Words

• asphalt
• road
• sidewalk