road race

American

[rohd reys] / ˈroʊd ˌreɪs /

noun

a race that is performed on paved roads.

State Street will be closed from noon to 5 p.m. for the running of the Governor’s Cup road race.
Last year’s champion driver appears to have lost this year’s Bordeaux-Paris road race.

Etymology

Origin of road race

First recorded in 1850–55

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:

road race

The event is an international road race that takes place on 8.97 miles of closed public roads.

From BBC ● May 7, 2026

The Olympic time-trial and road race champion finished the 12km course six seconds quicker than British rider Josh Tarling, with Frenchman Remi Cavagna in third.

From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026

Andresen said he wanted to be on the wheel of his main rival Brennan in the final hectic finishing sprint in Sunday's 183.8 kilometre road race and relished his opportunity to have the last crack.

From Barron's ● Feb. 1, 2026

O’Connor estimates he has shot 13.5 million elementary school photos; Knight got into the Santa and Easter Bunny businesses and bought the road race photography company MarathonFoto.

From Slate ● May 27, 2025

When we pulled into Mrs. Droogie’s driveway he was sitting on his tricycle with a superior smirk on his face, as if he had just won a super tricycle road race.

From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023