viaduct
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of viaduct
1810–20; < Latin via way + (aque)duct
Explanation
A viaduct is a bridge made of connected sections. Most viaducts are a series of arches that span a road. Some viaducts stretch across train tracks, while other carry traffic across valleys, gorges, or bodies of water. What's distinctive about older viaducts is that they're usually made of equal-sized arches all linked into one long bridge. Newer viaducts can look simply like an elevated road or highway. The word viaduct combines the Latin via, or "road," with ducere, "to lead something."
Vocabulary lists containing viaduct
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
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Around the World in Eighty Days
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Wise Blood
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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 Colonia Los Laureles, a canyon shantytown, a viaduct is clogged with sewage, discarded tires, plastic bottles and other debris.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026
With its long arches and lights looming over the viaduct, the 6th Street Bridge has become a beacon for Angelenos and the curious.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2026
Remnants of donated props and floats from parades past lie around the space under a viaduct that doubles as a driving school parking lot.
From Barron's • Feb. 13, 2026
Instead, drivers have been leaving the motorway and "rat running" through small villages in a bid to avoid hour-long delays on the approach to the viaduct.
From BBC • Aug. 26, 2025
The Chevy rolled smoothly across a viaduct and up the narrow tar road.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
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.
