Tarmac
a brand of bituminous binder, similar to tarmacadam, for surfacing roads, airport runways, parking areas, etc.
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Tarmac
American
[tahr-mak]
/ ˈtɑr mæk /
Trademark.
noun
-
(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.
tarmac
British
/ ˈtɑːmæk /
noun
-
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
verb
Explanation
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."
Vocabulary lists containing tarmac
A Long Way Home
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A Man Called Ove
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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.
See Examples For:
One day, I drove from Jena down to the Alexandria staging facility, one of the rare ICE detention structures situated directly on Tarmac.
From Slate ● Jun. 19, 2025
Some activists glued themselves to the Tarmac, while another stuck himself to a police car on 29 September.
From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2022
You go on a fresh Tarmac road in a lot of countries in West Africa indeed, and they say, “Yeah, China came in and has paved the highway system”.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 23, 2017
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 Covington Clarke
The plane stayed on the tarmac for at least 30 minutes after landing, and the injured flight attendants stayed onboard, according to KABC.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
Earlier this year, planes in Dubai and in Tel Aviv were damaged on the tarmac, triggering consternation among insurers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
In a rare move, Trump welcomed Xi's entourage at the airport as the US Air Force band marched on the tarmac and US and Chinese flags flew.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Happy ending for stray pup that sparked wild tarmac chase.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
I can see straight through them to the tarmac, and I can even see the front landing gear.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
