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Synonyms

roadhouse

American  
[rohd-hous] / ˈroʊdˌhaʊs /

noun

plural

roadhouses

  1. an inn, dance hall, tavern, nightclub, etc., located on a highway, usually beyond city limits.

roadhouse British  
/ ˈrəʊdˌhaʊs /

noun

  1. a pub, restaurant, etc, that is situated at the side of a road, esp a country road

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of roadhouse

First recorded in 1855–60; road + house

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.

The next track, “Excited Delirium,” a high-speed roadhouse rave-up about unlawful search and seizure, is defiant and angry.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026

Some at the roadhouse rally wore cowboy hats.

From Barron's • Jan. 29, 2026

On 14 December 1941, Almonds and another SAS soldier, Jock Lewes, who would be killed on a later mission, attacked an Italian roadhouse and a fort at Mersa Brega in Libya.

From BBC • Jan. 25, 2025

His 1930 coffee pot-shaped Tacoma roadhouse survives today as Bob’s Java Jive.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 21, 2024

So my first impression, that he was a person of some undefined consequence, had gradually faded and he had become simply the proprietor of an elaborate roadhouse next door.

From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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.