Synonyms

underground railroad

American

noun

Also called underground railway. a railroad running through a continuous tunnel, as under city streets; subway.
(often initial capital letters) (before the abolition of slavery) a system for helping African Americans fleeing slavery to escape into Canada or other places of safety.

underground railroad British

noun

(often capitals) (in the pre-Civil War US) the system established by abolitionists to aid escaping slaves

"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

Underground Railroad Cultural

A network of houses and other places that abolitionists used to help slaves escape to freedom in the northern states or in Canada before the Civil War. The escaped slaves traveled from one “station” of the railroad to the next under cover of night. Harriet Tubman was the most prominent “conductor” on the Underground Railroad.

underground railroad Idioms

A secret network for moving and housing fugitives, as in There's definitely an underground railroad helping women escape abusive husbands. This term, dating from the first half of the 1800s, alludes to the network that secretly transported runaway slaves through the northern states to Canada. It was revived more than a century later for similar escape routes.

Etymology

Origin of underground railroad

First recorded in 1825–35

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.

Their spacious home served as an underground railroad station assisting enslaved men, women, and children escaping from southern states into Canada.

From Literature

The women, who are against secession and for abolition but are practiced in the art of deceiving their neighbors, are involved with the Underground Railroad in some way that’s not exactly clear.

From Los Angeles Times

For four decades, the Boritts lived on an 18th-century farm in Gettysburg that had once served as a stop on the Underground Railroad and an ad hoc hospital during the battle., who survives him, as do their three sons.

From The Wall Street Journal

For four decades, they lived on an 18th-century farm in Gettysburg that had once served as a stop on the Underground Railroad and an ad hoc hospital during the battle.

From The Wall Street Journal

It was through that Underground Railroad.

From Literature

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