railroad
Americannoun
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railroads
plural
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a permanent road laid with rails, commonly in one or more pairs of continuous lines forming a track or tracks, on which locomotives and cars are run for the transportation of passengers, freight, and mail.
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an entire system of such roads together with its rolling stock, buildings, etc.; the entire railway plant, including fixed and movable property.
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the company of persons owning or operating such a plant.
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Bowling. a split.
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railroads, stocks or bonds of railroad companies.
verb (used with object)
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railroads,
present (3rd person singular)
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railroaded,
past participle, past
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railroading
present participle
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to transport by means of a railroad.
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to supply with railroads.
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Informal. to push (a law or bill) hastily through a legislature so that there is not time enough for objections to be considered.
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Informal. to convict (a person) in a hasty manner by means of false charges or insufficient evidence.
The prisoner insisted he had been railroaded.
verb (used without object)
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railroads,
present (3rd person singular)
-
railroaded,
past participle, past
-
railroading
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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railroadsimple
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railroadssimple
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have railroadedperfect
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has railroadedperfect
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am railroadingprogressive
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are railroadingprogressive
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is railroadingprogressive
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have been railroadingperfect progressive
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has been railroadingperfect progressive
Past
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railroadedsimple
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had railroadedperfect
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was railroadingprogressive
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were railroadingprogressive
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had been railroadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of railroad
1750–60; 1875–85 railroad for def. 9; rail 1 + road
Explanation
The system of tracks that trains run on can be called a railroad. A railroad is made up of the actual tracks, crossings, and stations, as well as the people who keep the trains running and scream, "All aboard!" If you prefer traveling by railroad, you like to ride trains, whether to the next town over or all the way across the country. Many railroad tracks in the US are used for freight trains that deliver goods around the country. When railroad is a verb, it can mean "move by train," but it's more likely to mean "force or coerce someone to do something," like when you railroad your brother into taking out the trash for you.
Vocabulary lists containing railroad
The Industrial Revolution - Introductory
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The Industrial Revolution - Middle School and High School
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History of India - Introductory
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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:
The $13 billion figure shows the strength of the company’s railroad, energy and manufacturing, service, and retailing units.
From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026
SpaceX, he adds, has cut the cost of reaching orbit from around $10,000-$20,000 a kilogram to about $2,000 with its Falcon 9 rocket - "they have built a railroad to space."
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Mexican authorities have seized millions of gallons of contraband fuel in scores of railroad cars near the border with Texas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
Its use in railroad rails—now cheaper, safer and longer-lasting than wrought iron—greatly increased.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
I made my way to the corridor and off the railroad car on legs weakened by more than fatigue and anger.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Within two decades, railroads had replaced steam engines with diesel-electric trains, which are cheaper to maintain and operate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
But the scale of AI investment is now bigger than any nonwartime boom in history, including railroads and the dot-com bubble, according to the Bank for International Settlements.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
In the 1880s, quarterly reporting by railroads and other transportation companies were common.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
“Just as railroads, electric grids, and the Internet reshaped prior economic eras, we believe SpaceX is building the foundational platform for the next generation of industrial capacity,” he wrote.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
The railroads scheduled special trains to carry the masses of humanity southward.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
I looked into those charges and concluded that they are unsupported, that Pangram isn’t reliable enough to serve as the basis for such accusations, and that there is a strong possibility Mia Ballard was railroaded.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
Having stripped away most of the documentary’s narration and sit-down interviews with Kerr’s family and friends, the film barely explores anyone’s psychology — and Blunt’s railroaded Dawn loses her chance to speak for herself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2025
Like other actors including Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino, Julia Ormond, briefly a major star in the 1990s, has alleged in a lawsuit that Weinstein railroaded her career.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 25, 2024
"The CPS did not consult with us, as has been reported. Instead, we have been rushed, hastened and railroaded," she said.
From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2024
If I had been railroaded, the authorities would have known how I’d gotten it.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
But wage-earners—in textile manufacturing and railroading, to pick two examples—gained by the steady appreciation in the purchasing power of their hard-earned money.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
Unlike Derry’s pubs, it welcomed everybody and also secretly provided a safe refuge for Hank as he hid from the cops intent on railroading him.
From Salon ● Dec. 8, 2025
“When the Mexican Revolution was going on, you had a lot of Mexican immigrants coming into these railroading hubs and centers like the Inland Empire, like San Bernardino,” Ocegueda said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2025
He also invested in coal mining, gas, water, railroading, land development, banking and marine navigation.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 8, 2023
They launched into a long discussion of their memories, both of railroading and of the Sierras.
From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep
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.
