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View synonyms for route

route

[root, rout]

noun

  1. a course, way, or road for passage or travel.

    What's the shortest route to Boston?

  2. a customary or regular line of passage or travel.

    There's a ship from our company on the North Atlantic route.

  3. a specific itinerary, round, or number of stops regularly visited by a person in the performance of their work or duty.

    a newspaper route;

    a mail carrier's route.

    Synonyms: circuit, beat


verb (used with object)

routed, routing 
  1. to set the path of.

    to route a tour.

  2. to send or forward by a particular course or road.

    It's the post office's job to route mail to its proper destination.

route

/ ruːt /

noun

  1. the choice of roads taken to get to a place

  2. a regular journey travelled

  3. (capital) a main road between cities

    Route 66

  4. mountaineering the direction or course taken by a climb

  5. med the means by which a drug or agent is administered or enters the body, such as by mouth or by injection

    oral route

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to plan the route of; send by a particular route

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Usage

When forming the present participle or verbal noun from the verb to route it is preferable to retain the e in order to distinguish the word from routing , the present participle or verbal noun from rout 1 , to defeat or rout 2 , to dig, rummage: the routeing of buses from the city centre to the suburbs . The spelling routing in this sense is, however, sometimes encountered, esp in American English
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Other Word Forms

  • misroute verb (used with object)
  • preroute verb (used with object)
  • reroute verb
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Word History and Origins

Origin of route1

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English: “way, course,” from Old French, from Latin rupta (via) “broken (road),” feminine past participle of rumpere “to break”; rout 1
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Word History and Origins

Origin of route1

C13: from Old French rute , from Vulgar Latin rupta via (unattested), literally: a broken (established) way, from Latin ruptus broken, from rumpere to break, burst
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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. go the route,

    1. to see something through to completion.

      It was a tough assignment, but he went the route.

    2. Baseball. to pitch the complete game.

      The heat and humidity were intolerable, but the pitcher managed to go the route.

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

But he said there were no plans to open up more visa routes to Indian workers or students.

From BBC

Hundreds of hikers made their way to the Karma Valley hiking trail, a lesser-known but scenic route to the base of Everest - which also offers a view of the world's highest peak.

From BBC

“The government is clearly engaged in a war on education. ... Capitulation is the fastest route to ruin.”

Judge Astrit Kalaja died en route to hospital, officials said, while two others involved in the hearing over a property dispute - a father and son - were shot but sustained injuries that were not life-threatening.

From BBC

But he said he wasn’t a great student and thought the private-school route would be easier — and faster.

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Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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