(lowercase) a road, airport runway, parking area, etc., paved with Tarmac, tarmacadam, or a layer of tar.
(lowercase) a layer or covering of Tarmac, tarmacadam, or tar.
Full name: tarmacadam. a paving material that consists of crushed stone rolled and bound with a mixture of tar and bitumen, esp as formerly used for a road, airport runway, etc See also macadam
a runway at an airport
on the tarmac at Nairobi airport
If your airplane is on the tarmac, that means you're either just about to take off or you've just landed. Either way, the tarmac is the paved runway at the airport. The term tarmac refers to the area of an airport where airplanes taxi, or pull up to a gate, or head out to the runway. The runway itself is also called the tarmac. The name comes from a specific tar-based paving material that's also commonly used on roads. Originally, the word was trademarked as shorthand for tarmacadam, "tar mixed with crushed rock."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He greeted him on the Tarmac when Trump came to visit L.A.
From Slate ● May 30, 2025
Hopefully, when we go to a more front-limited track and maybe better Tarmac, our car will come alive and we will be able to mount a better challenge on Max for the win.
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2024
In February, Patrick Lecer, the CEO of Tarmac Aerosave, the company that owns the Teruel boneyard and three others in France, had one eye cocked towards China.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 29, 2020
Tarmac softens in hot weather which would likely cause a heavy airplane to sink into it.
From Forbes ● Sep. 18, 2014
Tarmac The line of departure on the field.
From Aces Up by Clarke, Covington
This was an era during which “you could just walk onto the tarmac without a ticket,” said Brendan Koerner, author of The Skies Belong to Us.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
They were standing behind him on the tarmac outside of Air Force One when he said it.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026
Zambada said Guzmán López forced him onto the plane and then delivered him to FBI and Department of Homeland Security agents waiting on the New Mexico tarmac.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2026
By then, charter planes should be on the tarmac at the local airport, ready to repatriate them.
From BBC ● May 9, 2026
I jumped down to the tarmac of the school’s driveway.
From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman
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.
