Pave

//peɪv// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    a setting with precious stones so closely set that no metal shows wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To cover something with paving slabs. British
  2. 2
    cover with a material such as stone or concrete to make suitable for vehicle traffic wordnet
  3. 3
    To cover with stone, concrete, blacktop or other solid covering, especially to aid travel. Canada, US

    "They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot."

  4. 4
    To pave the way for; to make easy and smooth. figuratively, transitive

    "After two weeks Miguel began to circulate freely about the city in his truck, albeit with the long, chrome-plated pistol cocked and ready on his lap. It wouldn't be for three more years that Gonzo would tell Miguel about the secret leverage that paved his path to freedom."

Synonyms

All synonyms
alleyarterialarteryasphaltavenueblacktop

Example

More examples

"The project was a failure, but it did pave the way for the success of later efforts."

Etymology

From Old French paver (“to pave, to cover”), from Vulgar Latin *pavāre (“to beat down, to smash”), from Latin pavīre (“to beat, strike, ram, tread down”).

Related phrases

nuke and pavepave the cowpathpave the road to hellpave the waypaving stonepave way

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.