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pave

verb

Simple meaning

To cover with stone, concrete, blacktop or other solid covering.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

payv
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpeɪv

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. canadaus

    To cover with stone, concrete, blacktop or other solid covering, especially to aid travel.

  2. british

    To cover something with paving slabs.

  3. transitivefigurative

    To pave the way for; to make easy and smooth.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To cover with stone, concrete, blacktop or other solid covering, especially to aid travel.

Used this way, pave is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use pave

  • “Pave the roads in the village.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

helped pavethus pavepave roadspave hawk

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • pavedadjectiveInflected form

    Covered with a firm surface.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • pavementnounDerived noun · specialist

    The paved surface of a thoroughfare.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • paved surfacenounCompound term

    A level horizontal surface covered with paving material.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.