subway
Americannoun
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especially British, tube, underground. an underground electric railroad, usually in a large city.
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Chiefly British. a short tunnel or underground passageway for pedestrians, automobiles, etc.; underpass.
verb (used without object)
noun
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an underground passage or tunnel enabling pedestrians to cross a road, railway, etc
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an underground passage or tunnel for traffic, electric power supplies, etc
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an underground railway
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of subway
Explanation
An underground transportation system on rails is called a subway. New York City's subway system has more stations than any other subway in the world. In most large cities, the subway is a good way to get where you need to go. Subways have many different local names, from the BART in San Francisco to the Métro in Paris to the U-Bahn in Berlin. Before subway came to mean "underground railway," it meant "underground passage for water pipes." And if you ask where the subway is in London, you'll be directed to an underground walkway, which is what subway means in the U.K.
Vocabulary lists containing subway
October Words
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Unit 5
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Transportation
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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.
The most spirited response of the day came from 12-year-old Jailene Pimentel, between bites of a Subway sandwich.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
In December a man posted a video complaining that a woman he'd been recording on the New York City Subway broke his Meta glasses.
From BBC • May 13, 2026
A related photo exhibition, “Wilshire Subway: Photographed by Ken Karagozian,” is on view through May 14 at the 1301PE art gallery on Wilshire Boulevard.
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026
The center of the scheme, authorities said, was Chandrakant “Lala” Patel, the friendly owner of a Subway and other small businesses.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026
There was a Subway franchise, various ticket counters, an information kiosk.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
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.
