HOV

American  

abbreviation

1. high-occupancy vehicle: a car or other vehicle carrying a required minimum number of passengers, usually two.

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Etymology

Origin of HOV

1990–95

Example Sentences

As an EV perk comes to an end, solo drivers must exit the HOV lane or face a fine.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 29, 2025

Hovnanian Enterprises HOV -16.25%decrease; red down pointing triangle faced higher costs and lower margins in its fourth quarter, dragging the company to a loss.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025

“Now that California has hundreds of thousands of zero-emission vehicles, they can take up a lot of space in the HOV lanes, and those were meant to incentivize people to carpool,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 8, 2025

This is a long-standing struggle in the Southland, where Joan Didion once called HOV lanes on the freeways “a foray into bureaucratic terrorism.”

From Slate • Oct. 21, 2024

Only the left northbound HOV lane, south of 272nd Street, was open as of 12:30 p.m., causing traffic to back up about two miles, the Washington Department of Transportation said.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 10, 2024