sidewalk

sidewalk — noun

1. An elevated, hard-surfaced strip alongside a road where pedestrians can travel s

1.nounB1
Definition

An elevated, hard-surfaced strip alongside a road where pedestrians can travel safely.

Example

Mauricio walked his dog along the sidewalk every evening after dinner.

collocation: walk along the sidewalk

The icy sidewalk outside the library made walking quite dangerous.

collocation: icy sidewalk

Common collocations
  • walk along / on the sidewalk
  • icy / slippery / cracked sidewalk
  • sidewalk cafe / café
  • concrete sidewalk
  • sidewalk vendor / artist
  • sweep / shovel the sidewalk
  • on the sidewalk
  • edge of the sidewalk
Synonyms
  • pavement

    British English equivalent; in the US, pavement means the road surface itself

  • footpath

    Common in UK and Australian English; often refers to paths not necessarily beside a road

  • walkway

    More general term for any paved or raised path, not necessarily beside a street

Antonyms
  • roadway

    The part of the street used by vehicles, as opposed to the sidewalk for pedestrians

  • street

    The whole paved surface including the area for cars; sidewalk is specifically the pedestrian edge

Usage Note

Sidewalk is the standard American English term. In British English, the equivalent word is 'pavement'. It is a countable noun, so you can say 'a sidewalk' or 'the sidewalk'.

Common Mistakes

I walked on the pavement' (in the US).
I walked on the sidewalk.
'pavement' in the US refers to the road surface, not the walking path.
There was a crack in the walkway.' (when meaning the street-adjacent path).
There was a crack in the sidewalk.
'walkway' is a more general term for any path; 'sidewalk' specifically runs beside a street.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Sidewalk, pavement, footpath, and walkway all refer to paths people walk on, but they differ by region and context. Sidewalk is the standard American English term for a paved path beside a street. In British English, the same feature is called pavement — but note that in the US, 'pavement' means the road surface for cars, not the pedestrian area. Footpath is common in the UK and Australia for any walking route, including those through parks or countryside, not necessarily beside a road. Walkway is the broadest term: it can refer to any paved or raised path, such as a 'wooden walkway through a forest' or a 'pedestrian walkway in an airport'. For everyday use in American English, sidewalk is the right word when referring to the path along a street.

pavement ↗footpath ↗walkway

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • edge of the sidewalk
  • middle of the sidewalk
  • side of the sidewalk

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishAmerican English

Sidewalk is a compound of 'side' + 'walk'. 'Side' comes from Old English 'sīde', meaning 'flank or edge'. 'Walk' comes from Old English 'wealcan', meaning 'to roll, move about, or travel'. The word 'sidewalk' first appeared in American English in the early 1700s and became the standard US term for a raised pedestrian path beside a street.