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Meaning & use

one-way street

noun·Everyday

Last updated

UK/ˌwʌn weɪ ˈstriːt/
US/ˌwʌn weɪ ˈstriːt/

Meanings

  1. nouncountable

    A road on which traffic is allowed to move in only one direction.

    Grammar: Plural is one-way streets: the old town has many one-way streets.

    Patterns

    • turn into a one-way street
    • drive the wrong way down a one-way street

    The delivery van went the wrong way down a one-way street and blocked traffic.

    Our hotel is on a narrow one-way street near the station.

    The city turned Main Street into a one-way street to ease congestion.

  2. nounsingularfigurative

    A relationship or arrangement in which one person or side gives or benefits while the other does not.

    Grammar: Usually used with a: friendship is not a one-way street.

    Patterns

    • be a one-way street
    • treat something as a one-way street

    Respect should not be a one-way street; you have to give it to get it.

    Their friendship felt like a one-way street, with Maya always doing the favors.

    Cooperation between the two countries had become a one-way street.

Word forms

pluralone-way streets

Common combinations

narrow one-way street
The taxi crept down a narrow one-way street.
drive down a one-way street
He drove down a one-way street and met a bus head on.
the wrong way down a one-way street
A cyclist rode the wrong way down a one-way street.
not a one-way street
Communication is not a one-way street.
turn into a one-way street
The lane was turned into a one-way street last spring.

Synonyms and how they differ

one-sided arrangement
A one-sided arrangement describes only the figurative meaning and sounds more formal than the image of a one-way street.
lopsided deal
A lopsided deal stresses that the balance is unfair, while one-way street stresses that nothing flows back.

Opposites

two-way street

Word family

two-way street noun
a road or relationship in which both sides give and receive
one-way adjective
allowing movement in only one direction
one-sided adjective
favoring or involving only one side

Commonly confused: one-way street or dead end?

one-way street vs dead end

A dead end is a road that is closed at one end, whereas a one-way street is open but traffic moves only one way.

Practice

After years of lending money and never getting help back, Tom felt the friendship had become a ______.

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