Highway Meaning
/ˈhaɪweɪ/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA main public road, especially a multi-lane, high-speed thoroughfare.
nounAny public road.
Sentence Examples
The holiday traffic crawled along the highway.
The construction of a highway will contribute to the growth of the suburbs.
Plans were being made for the construction of a new interstate highway system.
CEFR Practice Quiz
They drove on the ____ to travel quickly from city to city.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We drove along the busy ____ for three hours before reaching the exit for the coastal town.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English heiȝwai, heiȝwei, from Old English hēahweġ (“main road, highway”), corresponding to high + way. Compare highgate, high street, high road. Cognate with Scots heaway, heway, hieway, hichway, heichway (“highway”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures."
— 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
"I'm on the highway to hell"
— 1979, “Highway to Hell”, in Highway to Hell, performed by AC/DC:
"So how do the scientists cope with their work being ignored for decades, and living in a world their findings indicate is on a “highway to hell”?."
— 2024 May 8, Damian Carrington, “‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair. World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target”, in The Guardian, UK:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
They drove on the ____ to travel quickly from city to city.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We drove along the busy ____ for three hours before reaching the exit for the coastal town.