Meaning & use
through road
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A road that you can travel all the way along to reach another place, not a dead end.
Grammar: Countable: use 'a through road' or 'through roads'.
Patterns
- a through road
- no through road
The sign said 'No through road', so we had to turn back.
Residents complained that the quiet street had become a through road for commuters.
Is this a through road, or does it stop at the river?
nouncountable
A road that goes through a town or area rather than around it, often carrying heavy traffic.
Grammar: Countable; often used with 'a' or in the plural.
Patterns
- a through road for traffic
- designate something as a through road
The council wants to keep heavy trucks on through roads and away from small streets.
This lane is not a through road; only local traffic should use it.
Word forms
| plural | through roads |
|---|
Common combinations
- no through road
- The sign at the entrance says 'No through road'.
- become a through road
- Since the bridge opened, our street has become a through road.
- a through road for traffic
- The new bypass is designed as a through road for heavy traffic.
- designate a road as a through road
- The city designated Main Street as a through road last year.
Synonyms and how they differ
- thoroughfare
- A more formal word for a main road that vehicles can travel along.
- passage
- A route through or across something; less specific than 'through road'.
Opposites
Commonly confused: through road or thorough road?
through road vs thorough road
Not a standard term. 'Thorough' means complete or careful, not a road you can pass through.
Practice
What does a 'through road' allow you to do?
Choose one answer.
A through road lets you travel along it to reach another place, so option 0 is correct. Option 1 is about parking, not the meaning of the term. Option 2 describes a dead end, which is the opposite of a through road. Option 3 is wrong because through roads are for vehicles as well as pedestrians.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “through road”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.