promenade
Americannoun
-
promenades
plural
-
a stroll or walk, especially in a public place, as for pleasure or display.
-
an area used for such walking.
-
a march of guests into a ballroom constituting the opening of a formal ball.
-
a march of dancers in square dancing.
-
a formal dance; prom.
verb (used without object)
-
promenades,
present (3rd person singular)
-
promenaded,
past participle, past
-
promenading
present participle
-
to go for or take part in a promenade.
-
to execute a promenade in square dancing.
verb (used with object)
-
promenades,
present (3rd person singular)
-
promenaded,
past participle, past
-
promenading
present participle
-
to take a promenade through or about.
-
to conduct or display in or as if in a promenade; parade.
They promenaded their prisoner before the townspeople.
noun
-
a public walk, esp at a seaside resort
-
a leisurely walk, esp one in a public place for pleasure or display
-
a ball or formal dance at a high school or college
-
a marchlike step in dancing
-
a marching sequence in a square or country dance
verb
-
to take a promenade in or through (a place)
-
(intr) dancing to perform a promenade
-
(tr) to display or exhibit (someone or oneself) on or as if on a promenade
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
promenadesimple
-
promenadessimple
-
have promenadedperfect
-
has promenadedperfect
-
am promenadingprogressive
-
are promenadingprogressive
-
is promenadingprogressive
-
have been promenadingperfect progressive
-
has been promenadingperfect progressive
Past
-
promenadedsimple
-
had promenadedperfect
-
was promenadingprogressive
-
were promenadingprogressive
-
had been promenadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of promenade
1560–70; < French, derivative of promener to lead out, take for a walk or airing < Latin promināre to drive (beasts) forward ( prō- pro- 1 + mināre to drive); see -ade 1
Explanation
Promenade is a fancy word for going out walking. If you like to stroll through town in a leisurely way, then you like to take promenades. Besides meaning the nice walk you just took, the noun promenade can also mean a special walking place for pedestrians, like a boardwalk. You can also use it as a verb, and go promenading. In Square Dance, promenade is a move where the couples walk around in a circle, and you might be familiar with the promenade at your high school — or did you just call it "Prom"?
Vocabulary lists containing promenade
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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:
There are so few cars in Cuba's capital that it is possible to cross the Malecon, the once bustling seafront promenade, without looking.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
At L’Alegria de l’Horta on the Malvarrosa Beach promenade, I sit in pressed clothes and drink fine Valencian wine.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
The best part: Instead of chain-hotel dining, I had pizza and gelato on the promenade for dinner, sunset drinks at a rooftop bar and ran along the water the next morning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Lopez added that the security that was visible around the promenade felt like an extra layer of protection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
Our bags were sent up to a room above a tidy tavern, and right away Aunt Kitty and I stepped out for a promenade around town.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
Families popped it over wood stoves; peddlers sold it in paper cones at circuses, carnivals and busy promenades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026
Bolsa Pacific is to include more than 15 acres of open space, including private spaces for residents, open-air promenades and a network of walking trails.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026
These sort of wind speeds will lead to large coastal waves which are likely to overtop the sea walls and promenades.
From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2026
The lake that rims the city is so pristine that bathers sometimes dip into the water directly from the city’s sidewalks and promenades.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 11, 2023
When she told him about their nightly promenades, their whispers, and their suffocated cries, Jean de Satigny was rooted to his chair, his fork frozen in midair and his mouth locked open.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
From Johannesburg to Cape Town and other areas across the country thousands of people, most with mandated face masks and keeping some distance, promenaded outside.
From Washington Times ● May 1, 2020
Memories of I-10 bedlam began to evaporate as we promenaded through the compact, tiered garden, serenaded by the gentle babble of small fountains.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 6, 2018
The reservoirs are currently undergoing a modernization process that may convert them into a promenaded recreation area akin to Echo Park.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2016
I would to God Shakespeare had lived later, & promenaded in Broadway.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 23, 2016
The revelers promenaded in pairs, women in bustled ball gowns in bright candy colors, men in frock coats with waxed mustaches.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
"Here's hoping we have some nice weather for the promenading pooches."
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2023
It will spend another 3 years promenading among the moons, eventually ending up in a tight orbit around Ganymede—the first time a spacecraft will orbit a moon other than Earth’s.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 5, 2023
She recalled Saturday nights promenading on Third Street and trying to snatch the brass ring at the pier’s merry-go-round to get a free ride.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2021
This refreshingly loose-limbed dance, to Mr. York’s surging score, imagines human bodies as celestial ones, with the sturdy, vibrant Aileen Roehl as the slowly promenading sun.
From New York Times ● Mar. 12, 2015
I was a bride, promenading down the center aisle of San Juan Evangelista twenty years back to marry the man with whom I would have our dear children, dearer than my life.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
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.
