noun
Etymology
Origin of boardwalk
Explanation
A boardwalk is a wooden path along a beach. In some places, it’s just a walkway over the marshes, but in others, it’s where all the action is, like in the song from the 1960’s “Under the Boardwalk.” Some boardwalks are simply wooden walkways, built so pedestrians can stroll near the water without damaging seaside plants or getting sand in their shoes. Other boardwalks are much larger commercial areas, often even built with concrete rather than wood. One famous boardwalk, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, gives tourists a place to gamble, eat, drink, and buy souvenirs. This boardwalk is, in fact, considered the first in the US and is credited with inspiring the word itself.
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.
American retirees normally spend the day walking the boardwalk or enjoying the cafes and restaurants in the Zona Romantica.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026
The couple are also planning to put a pool and “inset spa” in the backyard, while also building a pool deck and a boardwalk, as well as a trellis.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 17, 2025
They would also include work on Wimbledon Lake, which would involve building a boardwalk around and across it.
From BBC • Jul. 21, 2025
It’s just a short walk from the bus to a raised wooden boardwalk that winds above grassy wetlands and runs alongside Herring Creek — which, when we visited, was absolutely teeming with jumping, spawning salmon.
From Salon • Jul. 20, 2025
From the crowded boardwalk, as far as they could see up and down the shoreline, the beaches were a dark, seething mass of bodies packed together on the sand.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
