pavement

American  

[peyv-muhnt] / ˈpeɪv mənt /

noun

1. a paved road, highway, etc.

2. a paved surface, ground covering, or floor.

3. a material used for paving. pave.

4. Atlantic States and British. sidewalk.

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idioms

1. pound the pavement, to walk the streets in order to accomplish something.

   If you're going to find work you'd better start pounding the pavement.

pavement British  

/ ˈpeɪvmənt /

noun

1. US and Canadian word: sidewalk.  a hard-surfaced path for pedestrians alongside and a little higher than a road

2. a paved surface, esp one that is a thoroughfare

3. the material used in paving

4. civil engineering the hard layered structure that forms a road carriageway, airfield runway, vehicle park, or other paved areas

5. geology a level area of exposed rock resembling a paved road See limestone pavement

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pavement More Idioms  

1. see pound the pavement.

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Other Word Forms

• pavemental adjective
• prepavement noun
• subpavement noun

Etymology

Origin of pavement

1250–1300; Middle English < Old French < Latin pavīmentum. See pave, -ment

Example Sentences

Lichtenberg isn’t pounding the pavement to find and unveil secrets about institutions and power brokers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

We are closing side roads to the crash gates to keep these usable but the issue of pavement parking continues.

From BBC • Mar. 9, 2026

In San Francisco, Anthropic fans wielded brightly colored sidewalk chalk to ornament the pavement outside of the company’s office with messages of thanks, laudatories such as “You are patriots” and references to Nelson Mandela.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 3, 2026

"You can walk through central Oxford any time and you'll find at least one pavement blocked by e-scooters," she says.

From BBC • Feb. 25, 2026

It’s a mirage, Khalid told me once—like the mirages you see way out in the middle of a desert, but instead, they shimmer over the cracked pavement and potholes of our little town.

From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender

Related Words

• asphalt
• road
• sidewalk