tollbooth

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A small structure at a road, bridge or tunnel where drivers pay a fee to pass.

   Grammar: Countable: pay at the tollbooth.

   Patterns

   • pay at the tollbooth
   • pull up to the tollbooth

   The line at the tollbooth stretched for half a mile.

   I handed the attendant the money at the tollbooth.

   There is no tollbooth anymore; cameras read your plate.

2. 2nouncountablefigurative

   Figuratively, a point where you must pay or give something up in order to move forward.

   Grammar: Used figuratively in commentary.

   Patterns

   • a tollbooth for something

   Critics say the app store acts as a tollbooth for small developers.

   The agency became a tollbooth every deal had to pass.

   Fees at the tollbooth of the platform keep rising.

Word forms

Common combinations

pull up to the tollbooth

Pull up to the tollbooth and have your ticket ready.

pay at the tollbooth

You can pay at the tollbooth by card.

tollbooth attendant

The tollbooth attendant waved us through.

approach a tollbooth

As we approached a tollbooth, traffic slowed.

automated tollbooth

The highway has an automated tollbooth.

Synonyms and how they differ

toll gate

Toll gate is the older term for a barrier where a toll is charged, whereas a tollbooth is the booth where the money is paid.

toll plaza

A toll plaza is the whole wide area with several lanes and booths, not one booth.

checkpoint

A checkpoint is any stopping place for inspection, and does not involve paying.

turnpike

Turnpike is a toll road in American usage, not the booth itself.

Word family

toll noun

a fee for using a road or bridge

booth noun

a small enclosed structure

toll road noun

a road that charges drivers

tolling noun

the practice of charging tolls

Commonly confused: tollbooth or tolbooth?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “tollbooth”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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