Meaning & use
winding road
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Meanings
nouncountable
A road that bends and curves repeatedly instead of running in a straight line.
Grammar: Takes an or the: a winding road, the winding road to the village.
Patterns
- a winding road to something
- along a winding road
We drove slowly along a winding road that climbed through the pine forest.
The winding road to the lake made my sister feel sick in the back seat.
Cyclists love the winding road above the bay because the views keep changing.
nounsingularfigurative
A long, indirect and often difficult course of progress toward a goal.
Grammar: Usually singular and used as a metaphor: a winding road to success.
Patterns
- a winding road to something
Her path to becoming a surgeon was a winding road with several changes of direction.
Recovery from the injury turned out to be a long, winding road.
The peace talks have followed a winding road, with many delays.
Word forms
| plural | winding roads |
|---|
Common combinations
- a long winding road
- A long winding road led up to the old farmhouse.
- follow a winding road
- The bus follows a winding road along the coast.
- a narrow winding road
- Trucks struggle on the narrow winding road through the village.
- a winding road through the hills
- There is a winding road through the hills to the monastery.
- a winding road to success
- His career was a winding road to success rather than a quick climb.
Synonyms and how they differ
- twisting road
- Twisting suggests sharper, tighter turns, while winding can describe gentler, flowing curves.
- serpentine road
- Serpentine is more formal and descriptive, picturing the road as a snake, and is less common in conversation.
- country lane
- A country lane is defined by being small and rural, not necessarily by how many bends it has.
- hairpin road
- This stresses extremely sharp U-shaped bends, typical of steep mountains, and is more extreme than winding.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: winding road or wounded? winding road or windy road?
winding road vs wounded
Wounded means injured and is not related. Winding road has a long i sound, as in wine, not the wind of weather.
winding road vs windy road
Windy road can mean a road with bends (with a long i) or a road exposed to strong wind, so winding road is clearer.
Practice
The village is reached by a ____ road that bends back and forth up the mountain.
Choose one answer.
Winding describes a road with many curves. Straightened means the opposite, and the other options are not used to describe a road's shape.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “winding road”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.