Meaning & use
gatepost
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
One of the strong upright posts on either side of a gate, to which the gate is attached or against which it closes.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a gatepost, two gateposts, or the gateposts.
Patterns
- a wooden gatepost
- the gatepost on the left
- hang a gate on a gatepost
He leaned his bicycle against the gatepost and walked up the path.
The wooden gatepost had rotted at the bottom, so the gate hung crooked.
She painted both gateposts white to match the fence.
nouncountabletechnical
A marker or fixed point used to check measurements along a road or railway.
Grammar: Countable and technical; usually appears in the plural in surveyors' reports.
Patterns
- set out gateposts
- measure between gateposts
The surveyor set out gateposts every hundred meters along the new road.
Engineers used the gateposts to confirm that the track was straight.
Word forms
| plural | gateposts |
|---|
Common combinations
- lean against a gatepost
- He liked to lean against the gatepost and watch the traffic go by.
- a rotting gatepost
- A rotting gatepost will eventually let the whole gate drop.
- drive into a gatepost
- She drove into a gatepost while reversing out of the yard.
- a stone gatepost
- Two stone gateposts marked the entrance to the old farm.
- between the gateposts
- The dog squeezed between the gateposts and ran into the field.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
Commonly confused: gatepost or goalpost?
gatepost vs goalpost
A goalpost is one of the two uprights of a sports goal; a gatepost holds a gate. The two words sound similar but belong to different settings.
Practice
The gate would not close because one ______ had rotted away.
Choose one answer.
A gatepost is the upright that holds or meets a gate, so a rotten one stops the gate closing. 'Goalpost' belongs to sports, 'doorpost' frames a door, and 'postage' is the cost of sending mail.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “gatepost”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.