What does "rail" mean?
A horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing.
Rail
/ɹeɪ(ə)l/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing.
- Grammar: rail is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: attack, automobile, baluster, balustrade.
- Useful contrasts: applaud, free, gap.
- Usage evidence: The town is accessible by rail.
How to use "rail"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "rail" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "rail" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "rail" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "rail" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "rail" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "attack" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "rail", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing.
"Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern."
- 2 Any of several birds in the family Rallidae.
- 3 An item of clothing; a cloak or other garment; a dress. obsolete
- 4 any of numerous widely distributed small wading birds of the family Rallidae having short wings and very long toes for running on soft mud wordnet
- 5 The metal bar forming part of the track for a railroad.
"A "moving platform" scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays."
Show 13 more definitions
- 6 Specifically, a woman's headscarf or neckerchief. obsolete
"A course hempen raile about her shoulders."
- 7 a horizontal bar (usually of wood or metal) wordnet
- 8 A railroad; a railway, as a means of transportation.
"We travelled to the seaside by rail."
- 9 short for railway wordnet
- 10 A conductor maintained at a fixed electrical potential relative to ground, to which other circuit components are connected.
"ISA devices draw power from the +5 V, −5 V, +12 V, and −12 V rails of the power supply unit."
- 11 a barrier consisting of a horizontal bar and supports wordnet
- 12 A horizontal piece of wood that serves to separate sections of a door or window.
- 13 a bar or pair of parallel bars of rolled steel making the railway along which railroad cars or other vehicles can roll wordnet
- 14 One of the lengthwise edges of a surfboard.
"Rails alone can only ever have a marginal effect on a board's general turning ability."
- 15 A vertical section on one side of a web page. Internet
"We're experimenting with ads in the right-hand rail."
- 16 A large line (portion or serving of a powdery illegal drug).
"Do a couple rails and chase your own tail"
- 17 Each of two vertical side bars supporting the rungs of a ladder.
- 18 The raised edge of the game board.
Verb
- 1 To travel by railway. intransitive
"Mottram of the Indian Survey had ridden thirty and railed one hundred miles from his lonely post in the desert […]"
- 2 To complain violently (against, about).
"Till thou canst raile the seale from off my bond Thou but offend'st thy Lungs to speake so loud: Repaire thy wit good youth, or it will fall To endlesse ruine. I stand heere for Law."
- 3 To gush; to flow. obsolete
"his breste and his brayle was bloodé – and hit rayled all over the see."
- 4 criticize severely wordnet
- 5 To place on a track. transitive
Show 14 more definitions
- 6 To blow. obsolete
- 7 spread negative information about wordnet
- 8 To enclose with rails or a railing. transitive
"It ought to be fenced in and railed."
- 9 complain bitterly wordnet
- 10 To range in a line. transitive
"They were brought to London all railed in ropes, like a team of horses in a cart."
- 11 fish with a handline over the rails of a boat wordnet
- 12 To sexually penetrate in a rough manner. slang, transitive, vulgar
- 13 lay with rails wordnet
- 14 To snort a line of powdered drugs. slang, transitive
"All I can think about is being seventeen days sober and desperate to rail a line of blow after last night's group outing to see Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring (at my request), which, in hindsight, was a fucking dumb thing for a rehab to approve of."
- 15 travel by rail or train wordnet
- 16 convey (goods etc.) by rails wordnet
- 17 separate with a railing wordnet
- 18 provide with rails wordnet
- 19 enclose with rails wordnet
Example
"The town is accessible by rail."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "rail"?
Common synonyms include: attack, automobile, baluster, balustrade, banister, bar.
How do you use "rail" in a sentence?
The town is accessible by rail.
How do you pronounce "rail"?
Pronounced /ɹeɪ(ə)l/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English rail, rayl, *reȝel, *reȝol (found in reȝolsticke (“a ruler”)), partly from Old English regol (“a ruler, straight bar”) and partly from Old French reille; both from Latin regula (“rule, bar”), from regō (“to rule, to guide, to govern”); see regular. Doublet of regal, regula, rigol, and rule.
Etymology 2
From French râle, rale, from Middle French raalle, from Old French rasle. Compare Medieval Latin rallus. Named from its harsh cry, Vulgar Latin *rasculum, from Latin rādere (“to scrape”).
Etymology 3
From Middle French railler.
Etymology 4
From Middle English rail, reil, from Old English hræġl (“garment, dress, robe”). Cognate with Old Frisian hreil, reil, Old Saxon hregil, Old High German hregil (“clothing, garment, dress”).
Etymology 5
Probably from Anglo-Norman raier, Middle French raier.