Meaning & use
sharrows
Last updated
Meaning
nounusually pluralAmerican
Road markings of a bicycle with arrows that show cyclists and drivers share the same lane.
Grammar: Usually plural: sharrows were painted on the street. Singular: a sharrow.
Patterns
- sharrows on the road
- paint sharrows on something
The city painted sharrows on Main Street to remind drivers to watch for cyclists.
Cyclists ride in the middle of the lane when they follow the sharrows.
New sharrows appeared along the busiest road in the neighborhood.
Word forms
| singular | sharrow |
|---|
Common combinations
- paint sharrows
- Workers painted sharrows on the road last week.
- follow the sharrows
- Follow the sharrows to stay on the bike route.
- sharrows on the road
- Sharrows on the road tell drivers to share the lane.
- install sharrows
- The council plans to install sharrows on three streets.
- faded sharrows
- Faded sharrows are hard for cyclists to see.
Synonyms and how they differ
- shared lane markings
- Shared lane markings is the official full name, while sharrows is the short form used in conversation.
- bike lane
- A bike lane is a separate lane just for cyclists, which is different from sharrows where traffic shares.
- road markings
- Road markings is any painted road sign, so sharrows are one particular kind.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: sharrows or bike lane?
sharrows vs bike lane
A bike lane is a separate marked strip for cyclists; sharrows only mark a lane that cars and bikes share.
Practice
The painted bicycle symbols with arrows on the road are called ____.
Choose one answer.
Sharrows mark a lane shared by drivers and cyclists. Crosswalks are for pedestrians and speed bumps slow cars.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sharrows”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.