runway
Americannoun
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runways
plural
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a paved or cleared strip on which planes land and take off.
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a similar strip on which cars, trucks, or the like may park, load, or enter the stream of traffic.
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the beaten track or habitual path of deer or other wild animals.
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a fairly large enclosure in which domestic animals may range about.
a runway for dogs.
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the bed of a stream.
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Bowling. approach.
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a narrow platform or ramp extending from a stage into the orchestra pit or into an aisle, as in a theater.
noun
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a hard level roadway or other surface from which aircraft take off and on which they land
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an enclosure for domestic animals; run
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forestry a chute for sliding logs down
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a narrow ramp extending from the stage into the audience in a theatre, nightclub, etc, esp as used by models in a fashion show
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of runway
Explanation
A runway could be for an airplane or a fashion model. It’s the strip of land a plane uses to take off and land on, or a narrow platform that a model uses to show off the latest fashions. A plane needs a runway of a certain length in order to gather enough speed to take off, and it likewise needs a long enough runway when it lands to slow down and come to a safe stop. Even the very shortest runways are more than 800 feet long — and the world's longest runway, at California's Edwards Air Force Base, is nearly 40,000 feet long. The original meaning of runway was "usual track of an animal."
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:
Not building a third runway at Heathrow Airport would be a "huge missed opportunity" for the UK, the boss of the country's busiest airport has warned.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
Whether the new-look government still backs a third runway is not yet clear.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
When you’re dreaming up a runway collection, do you have a specific cast of people in mind who influence the designs — real people, imagined characters or figures from your own life and imagination?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
As the city contends with a string of challenges—declining snowfall and plummeting real-estate sales among them—it is the runway reconstruction that has become one of the hottest-button topics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Klava tried to set down her Pe-2 on the ground next to the runway.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
Whether the airport can in fact legally be constructed is being contested in the courts even as the runways get tarmacked.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
Two of the four runways at the airport remained closed following the crash.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
The airport was put into a ground stop at approximately 2 p.m., with all runways and taxiways currently closed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
The airport said all its runways and taxiways have been shut down because of the accident.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
But beneath the forest floor is a world honeycombed with the tunnels and runways of small mammals — whitefooted mice, voles, and shrews of various species.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
