pavement
/ˈpeɪvm(ə)nt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.61 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A paved path, for the use of pedestrians, located at the side of a road.
Canadian usage; British usage; American usage; Countable
noun
A paving (paved part) of a road or other thoroughfare; the roadway or road surface.
Canadian usage; American usage; Uncountable
noun
The paved part of an area other than a road or sidewalk, such as a cobblestone plaza, asphalt schoolyard or playground, or parking lot.
Canadian usage; American usage; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold."
- "It was a cold and rainy afternoon as Ethel Churchill sat at the window of their new abode, a house in one of the streets leading from the Strand to the river. It was the day after their arrival, and nothing could well be more gloomy than the view: the pavement was wet, and a yellow mist obscured every object,..."
- "Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house."
- "[H]e attempted to recover his importance, by haranguing upon the Roman highways, when Mr. Jolter desired the company to take notice of the fine pavement upon which they travelled from Paris into Flanders […]."
- "The antirunway munitions are specifically designed to cause maximum destruction to airfield pavements."
- "89.2 million tons of RAP are used annually in new asphalt pavement construction in the United States."
Etymology
From Middle English pament, from Anglo-Norman pavement and reinforced by Middle French pavement; both from Latin pavīmentum (“paved surface or floor”), from pavīre (“to beat, to ram, to tread down”). Morphologically pave + -ment.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpeɪvm(ə)nt/
- British English: /ˈpeɪvm(ə)nt/