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
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.
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
“Wilshire Subway: Photographed by Ken Karagozian” is a new exhibition based on a new photo book by Karagozian and writer India Mandelkern.
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026
For nearly a decade, four small-town Louisiana lawmen and a Subway shop owner manufactured phony crime reports to help foreign nationals stay in the U.S., federal prosecutors say.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026
Norwegian’s appointments seem to have eased Elliott’s leadership concerns—the activist had previously described the hiring of former Subway Restaurants boss John Chidsey as CEO as “troubling news.”
From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026
I had eaten two meals on the plane—a sort-of dinner and a sort-of breakfast—and though neither of them left me that satisfied, I did not want Subway.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
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.
