Meaning & use
pavement
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableBritish
In British English, the raised path at the side of a road where people walk.
Grammar: In the UK you walk 'on the pavement'; Americans say 'sidewalk' for this.
Patterns
- walk on the pavement
- park on the pavement
Please keep to the pavement while the lorry reverses.
A cyclist was fined for riding on the pavement outside the school.
The pavement was crowded with shoppers on Saturday.
noununcountableAmerican
In American English, the hard surface of a road, parking lot, or similar area.
Grammar: Usually uncountable here: the pavement was wet, not 'a pavement'.
Patterns
- on the pavement
- hit the pavement
The rain left the pavement slick and dark.
Cracks in the pavement had to be repaired before winter.
The tires squealed as the car skidded on the pavement.
nouncountable or uncountablespecialist
A covering of stone slabs, tiles, or similar material laid over a floor or outdoor area.
Grammar: Often used for archaeological floors: a Roman tessellated pavement.
Patterns
- a mosaic pavement
Archaeologists uncovered a Roman mosaic pavement beneath the farm.
The courtyard's stone pavement had been worn smooth by centuries of footsteps.
Workers laid a new pavement of granite around the fountain.
Word forms
| plural | pavements |
|---|
Common combinations
- on the pavement
- Children chalked pictures on the pavement.
- cracked pavement
- Weeds pushed up through the cracked pavement.
- wet pavement
- Drivers should slow down on wet pavement.
- pavement café
- We had coffee at a pavement café near the station.
- pound the pavement
- She spent a month pounding the pavement looking for a job.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sidewalk
- Sidewalk is the American word for the British sense of pavement and is the natural choice in US writing.
- footpath
- A footpath can run through fields or parks away from any road, while a pavement always runs beside a road.
- asphalt
- Asphalt names the specific black material, whereas pavement names the surface whatever it is made of.
- road surface
- This phrase is plainer and clearer in British English, where pavement would be misread as the walkway.
Word family
Commonly confused: pavement or sidewalk?
pavement vs sidewalk
American English uses sidewalk for the path beside a road. A British speaker will say pavement for the same thing, so context decides which word is expected.
Practice
A British person tells a child, 'Stay on the pavement.' What does she want the child to do?
Choose one answer.
In British English, pavement is the raised walkway beside a road. The tempting road option is the American sense, which does not fit a safety instruction like this.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pavement”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.