tarmac
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The area of an airport, other than the runway, where planes park or maneuver.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
tahrmakSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɑɹmæk
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
informalaviation
The area of an airport, other than the runway, where planes park or maneuver.
Tarmacadam.
ukirelandcanada
The driveable surface of a road.
verb
britishcanada
To pave with tarmacadam or a similar material.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (informal, aviation) The area of an airport, other than the runway, where planes park or maneuver.
Used this way, tarmac is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in everyday conversation and social media or informal writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Casual
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Playful
- Usage feel
- Casual and conversational
Where it naturally appears
- Everyday conversation
- Social media/informal writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.