motorway

American

[moh-ter-wey] / ˈmoʊ tərˌweɪ /

noun

British.

an expressway.

motorway British

/ ˈməʊtəˌweɪ /

noun

US names: superhighway. expressway. a main road for fast-moving traffic, having limited access, separate carriageways for vehicles travelling in opposite directions, and usually a total of four or six lanes

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of motorway

First recorded in 1900–05; motor + way ¹

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.

It reportedly skidded off the runway and hit vehicles on a nearby motorway.

From BBC

He shared drone footage from Sunday morning, which showed a deserted motorway with smoke visible in the distance.

From BBC

To be at this club is special, so I'm not playing it down, but it wasn't the case that I came off the phone shouting and screaming and celebrating on the motorway or anything.

From BBC

The horrific reality was that their car was stranded in the outside lane - lane four - of a smart motorway, with no hard shoulder to escape to in the event of a breakdown.

From BBC

The snow also forced the closure of motorways and main roads in several parts of the country, the country's traffic police said.

From Barron's

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023