pave

To pave is to put down a surface, such as a road, a highway, or a sidewalk.

• Construction workers are paving the highway.
• The highway was paved with asphalt.
• Some American cities have streets that were paved with bricks or cobblestones.
• Our patio was paved with pavers. A paver is a rectangular block of concrete.

The word "paved" is used as an adjective:

• Most small roads in rural areas are paved, but it’s also very common to see gravel roads. (gravel = rock and sand)
• A newly paved road is nice and smooth.
• Concrete provides a longer lasting paved surface compared to asphalt.

This road was paved with asphalt.

The word "pavement" is a noun. This is used when referring to a hard concrete or asphalt surface.

• Winter weather is hard on pavement.
• The pavement gets very hot in the summer.
• You can see skid marks on the pavement where someone hit the breaks and left a skid mark.

The word "pave" is often used as a type of metaphor, and it’s also found in some expressions:

• The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
• You can’t easily pave over a serious problem. It has to be dealt with directly.
• The Republicans paved over their differences and moved forward as a unified party.
• Jackie Robinson paved the way for other black baseball players to join the major leagues.
• He paved the way for others to follow.

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May 23, 2016