railroad
Americannoun
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railroads
plural
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a permanent road laid with rails, commonly in one or more pairs of continuous lines forming a track or tracks, on which locomotives and cars are run for the transportation of passengers, freight, and mail.
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an entire system of such roads together with its rolling stock, buildings, etc.; the entire railway plant, including fixed and movable property.
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the company of persons owning or operating such a plant.
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Bowling. a split.
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railroads, stocks or bonds of railroad companies.
verb (used with object)
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railroads,
present (3rd person singular)
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railroaded,
past participle, past
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railroading
present participle
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to transport by means of a railroad.
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to supply with railroads.
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Informal. to push (a law or bill) hastily through a legislature so that there is not time enough for objections to be considered.
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Informal. to convict (a person) in a hasty manner by means of false charges or insufficient evidence.
The prisoner insisted he had been railroaded.
verb (used without object)
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railroads,
present (3rd person singular)
-
railroaded,
past participle, past
-
railroading
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
railroadsimple
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railroadssimple
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have railroadedperfect
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has railroadedperfect
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am railroadingprogressive
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are railroadingprogressive
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is railroadingprogressive
-
have been railroadingperfect progressive
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has been railroadingperfect progressive
Past
-
railroadedsimple
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had railroadedperfect
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was railroadingprogressive
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were railroadingprogressive
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had been railroadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of railroad
1750–60; 1875–85 railroad for def. 9; rail 1 + road
Explanation
The system of tracks that trains run on can be called a railroad. A railroad is made up of the actual tracks, crossings, and stations, as well as the people who keep the trains running and scream, "All aboard!" If you prefer traveling by railroad, you like to ride trains, whether to the next town over or all the way across the country. Many railroad tracks in the US are used for freight trains that deliver goods around the country. When railroad is a verb, it can mean "move by train," but it's more likely to mean "force or coerce someone to do something," like when you railroad your brother into taking out the trash for you.
Vocabulary lists containing railroad
The Industrial Revolution - Introductory
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The Industrial Revolution - Middle School and High School
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History of India - Introductory
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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:
Incorporated in 1938, Shafter has roots as a railroad depot; the high-speed rail project would replace existing Amtrak and freight tracks with a wider, elevated line surrounded by 35-foot walls.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
The railroad has since struck a $310 million consent decree with the federal government and state of Ohio for cleanup costs, civil penalties and funding for a 20-year community-health program and medical monitoring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
More recently in June, a rail car loaded with lithium-ion batteries caught fire as it was being burglarized in the Cajon Pass, authorities and railroad representatives said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
The $13 billion figure shows the strength of the company’s railroad, energy and manufacturing, service, and retailing units.
From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026
“Bet he got suckered by them railroad pamphlets, didn’t he?”
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Despite its similarity to telecom or railroads or any other capital-intensive wave of innovation and construction, it’s still unique, a category of one.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Intermodal containers and trailers carried on U.S. railroads in the week ended Aug. 22, up 5% from a year earlier, according to the Association of American Railroads.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Debt has been used throughout history to build homes, highways and railroads, construct schools and mobilize for war.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
In the 1880s, quarterly reporting by railroads and other transportation companies were common.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
When did he start working for the railroads?
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
The Clippers are howling in protest, vehemently rejecting the league’s conclusions and stating they’ve been railroaded by a “heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
They also trusted the word of McBride, who has made a name for himself nationally as an outspoken — and controversial — advocate for officers who believe they’ve been railroaded by their departments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2024
Like other actors including Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino, Julia Ormond, briefly a major star in the 1990s, has alleged in a lawsuit that Weinstein railroaded her career.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 25, 2024
"They have railroaded this through the courts despite local outrage at the plans."
From BBC ● Jan. 9, 2024
If I had been railroaded, the authorities would have known how I’d gotten it.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
But wage-earners—in textile manufacturing and railroading, to pick two examples—gained by the steady appreciation in the purchasing power of their hard-earned money.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
Unlike Derry’s pubs, it welcomed everybody and also secretly provided a safe refuge for Hank as he hid from the cops intent on railroading him.
From Salon ● Dec. 8, 2025
“When the Mexican Revolution was going on, you had a lot of Mexican immigrants coming into these railroading hubs and centers like the Inland Empire, like San Bernardino,” Ocegueda said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2025
He also invested in coal mining, gas, water, railroading, land development, banking and marine navigation.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 8, 2023
They launched into a long discussion of their memories, both of railroading and of the Sierras.
From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep
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.
