Meaning & use
runways
Last updated
“runways” is a form of “runway”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nounplural
Long hard strips of ground at an airport on which aircraft take off and land.
Grammar: Plural of runway: the airport has two runways.
Patterns
- runways at somewhere
The airport has three runways, two of them over three kilometers long.
Snow closed both runways this morning.
Planes waited in line on the runways.
nounplural
Raised walkways in fashion shows along which models walk to show clothes.
Grammar: Plural of runway: designers show collections on the runways of big cities.
Patterns
- runways of somewhere
The runways of Paris showed bold colors this season.
She has walked the runways of Milan and New York.
Designers' runways often mix art and music.
nounpluralbusinessinformal
Spaces or time periods that give a business enough money or room to keep operating before it must make profit.
Grammar: Plural; usually singular in business use: a startup's runway.
The two startups have different runways: one has two years of cash, the other six months.
Investors check the runways of young companies carefully.
Cutting costs lengthens most companies' runways.
Word forms
| singular | runway |
|---|
Common combinations
- land on the runways
- Large jets land on the longest runways.
- clear the runways
- Crews cleared the runways of snow.
- parallel runways
- The airport has parallel runways to handle more flights.
- fashion runways
- Fashion runways around the world showed bright colors.
- close the runways
- Fog forced officials to close the runways.
Synonyms and how they differ
- airstrips
- Are simpler, often unpaved landing strips and are common in remote areas, whereas runways are usually paved and part of an airport.
- landing strips
- Suggests a basic strip for landing, often small or temporary.
- catwalks
- Is another word for fashion-show walkways and is more common in British English.
- tarmac
- Is the surface material and can mean the airport ground around planes, not only the runway.
Word family
Commonly confused: runways or taxiways?
runways vs taxiways
Taxiways are the paths planes use to move between runways and gates; runways are where they take off and land.
Practice
Heavy snow forced the airport to close two of its ____ for several hours.
Choose one answer.
Runways are the strips where planes take off and land, and snow must be cleared from them. Terminals are passenger buildings, which snow would not stop from operating.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “runways”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.