Meanings
nounrailway (plural railways)
plural railways
- CommonwealthIrelandUKA transport system using rails used to move passengers or goods.
1 more example
That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC - CommonwealthIrelandPhilippinesUKA track, consisting of parallel rails, over which wheeled vehicles such as trains may travel.
1 more example
His interest in railways is not the quality that marks Pearson out. Everyone was interested in railways. Over a thousand miles of them opened between 1837 and 1845, most of what would become the national network. [...] You needed an Act of Parliament to build a railway; but that wasn't very hard to obtain if you could give the appearance of adequately funded competence.
2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, pages 14–15Synonyms: railline, rail line, railroad line, railroad track, rails, railtrack, rail track, railway line
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA track, consisting of parallel rails, over which wheeled vehicles such as trains may travel.
More synonyms by meaning
nounline that is the commercial organization responsible for operating a system of transportation for trains that pull passengers or freight
Similar
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Afrikaans spoorweg
- spoorwegtrack, consisting of parallel rails
Arabic سِكَّة حَدِيدِيَّة, سِكَّة حَدِيد
- سِكَّة حَدِيدِيَّة (sikka ḥadīdiyya)transport system using these rails
- سِكَّة حَدِيد (sikkat ḥadīd)transport system using these rails
- سِكَّة حَدِيدِيَّة (sikka ḥadīdiyya)track, consisting of parallel rails
- سِكَّة الْحَدِيد (sikkat al-ḥadīd)track, consisting of parallel rails
Basque burdinbide, trenbide
- burdinbidetransport system using these rails
- trenbidetrack, consisting of parallel rails
Bengali রেলপথ
- রেলপথ (relpoth)transport system using these rails
Bulgarian желе́зница, железопъ́тна ли́ния
- желе́зница (želéznica)transport system using these rails
- железопъ́тна ли́ния (železopắtna línija)track, consisting of parallel rails
- ре́лсов път (rélsov păt)track, consisting of parallel rails
Catalan ferrocarril
- ferrocarriltrack, consisting of parallel rails
Chinese Cantonese 鐵路 /铁路, 火車路 /火车路
- 鐵路 /铁路 (tit³ lou⁶)transport system using these rails
- 火車路 /火车路 (fo² ce¹ lou⁶)transport system using these rails
- 鐵路 /铁路 (tit³ lou⁶)track, consisting of parallel rails
- 火車路 /火车路 (fo² ce¹ lou⁶)track, consisting of parallel rails
Chinese Mandarin 鐵路 /铁路, 鐵道 /铁道
- 鐵路 /铁路 (tiělù)transport system using these rails
- 鐵道 /铁道 (tiědào)transport system using these rails
- 火車道 /火车道 (huǒchēdào)transport system using these rails
- 鐵路 /铁路 (tiělù)track, consisting of parallel rails
- 鐵道 /铁道 (tiědào)track, consisting of parallel rails
- 火車道 /火车道 (huǒchēdào)track, consisting of parallel rails
Czech železnice, kolej
- železnicetransport system using these rails
- kolejtrack, consisting of parallel rails
- železnicetrack, consisting of parallel rails
- traťtrack, consisting of parallel rails
Danish jernbane, jernbane
- jernbanetransport system using these rails
- jernbanetrack, consisting of parallel rails
Dutch spoorwegen, spoorweg
- spoorwegentransport system using these rails
- spoorwegtrack, consisting of parallel rails
- ijzerenwegtrack, consisting of parallel rails
- ijzerbaantrack, consisting of parallel rails
Esperanto fervojo, fervojo
- fervojotransport system using these rails
- fervojotrack, consisting of parallel rails
Estonian raudtee, raudtee
- raudteetransport system using these rails
- raudteetrack, consisting of parallel rails
Finnish rautatie, rautatiet
- rautatietransport system using these rails
- rautatiettransport system using these rails
- ratatrack, consisting of parallel rails
- junaratatrack, consisting of parallel rails
- rautatietrack, consisting of parallel rails
French chemin de fer, chemin de fer
- chemin de fertransport system using these rails
- chemin de fertrack, consisting of parallel rails
- réseau ferroviairetrack, consisting of parallel rails
- voie ferréetrack, consisting of parallel rails
German Eisenbahn, Bahn
- Eisenbahntransport system using these rails
- Bahntransport system using these rails
- Eisenbahnlinietrack, consisting of parallel rails
- Gleistrack, consisting of parallel rails
Greek σιδηρόδρομος, σιδηρόδρομος
- σιδηρόδρομος (sidiródromos)transport system using these rails
- σιδηρόδρομος (sidiródromos)track, consisting of parallel rails
Hawaiian alahao, alahao
- alahaotransport system using these rails
- alahaotrack, consisting of parallel rails
Hebrew מְסִלַּת בַּרְזֶל, מסילת רכבת
- מְסִלַּת בַּרְזֶל (m'silát barzél)transport system using these rails
- מסילת רכבת (m'silát rakévet)transport system using these rails
- מְסִלַּת בַּרְזֶל (m'silát barzél)track, consisting of parallel rails
Hindi रेलवे
- रेलवे (relve)transport system using these rails
Hungarian vasút, sín
- vasúttransport system using these rails
- síntrack, consisting of parallel rails
- vasúttrack, consisting of parallel rails
- vasútvonaltrack, consisting of parallel rails
Icelandic járnbraut, járnbraut
- járnbrauttransport system using these rails
- járnbrauttrack, consisting of parallel rails
- lestarsportrack, consisting of parallel rails
- járnbanitrack, consisting of parallel rails
- járngatatrack, consisting of parallel rails
Indonesian jalur kereta api, perkeretaapian
- jalur kereta apitransport system using these rails
- perkeretaapiantransport system using these rails
- reltrack, consisting of parallel rails
- rel keretatrack, consisting of parallel rails
- jalan reltrack, consisting of parallel rails
Irish iarnród, bóthar iarainn
- iarnródtransport system using these rails
- bóthar iarainntrack, consisting of parallel rails
- iarnródtrack, consisting of parallel rails
Italian ferrovia, binario
- ferroviatransport system using these rails
- binariotrack, consisting of parallel rails
- rotaiatrack, consisting of parallel rails
- strada ferratatrack, consisting of parallel rails
- ferroviatrack, consisting of parallel rails
Japanese 鉄道, 線路
- 鉄道 (tetsudō)transport system using these rails
- 線路 (senro)track, consisting of parallel rails
Korean 철도, 철도
- 철도 (cheoldo)transport system using these rails
- 철도 (cheoldo)track, consisting of parallel rails
- 선로 (seollo)track, consisting of parallel rails
Latin ferrivia
- ferriviatransport system using these rails
Latvian dzelzceļš, dzelzceļš
- dzelzceļštransport system using these rails
- dzelzceļštrack, consisting of parallel rails
Lithuanian geležinkelis
- geležinkelistransport system using these rails
Malay jalur kereta api, jalur kereta api
- jalur kereta apitransport system using these rails
- jalur kereta apitrack, consisting of parallel rails
Māori rerewē, rerewē
- rerewētransport system using these rails
- rerewētrack, consisting of parallel rails
- ara rerewētrack, consisting of parallel rails
Norwegian Bokmål jernbane, jernbane
- jernbanetransport system using these rails
- jernbanetrack, consisting of parallel rails
Polish kolej, kolej żelazna
- kolejtransport system using these rails
- kolej żelaznatransport system using these rails
- kolejtrack, consisting of parallel rails
- linia kolejowatrack, consisting of parallel rails
Portuguese ferrovia, ferrovia
- ferroviatransport system using these rails
- ferroviatrack, consisting of parallel rails
- via-férreatrack, consisting of parallel rails
- caminho de ferrotrack, consisting of parallel rails
- estrada de ferrotrack, consisting of parallel rails
Romanian căi ferate, cale ferată
- căi feratetransport system using these rails
- cale feratătrack, consisting of parallel rails
- rețea feroviarătrack, consisting of parallel rails
Russian желе́зная доро́га, желе́зная доро́га
- желе́зная доро́га (želéznaja doróga)transport system using these rails
- желе́зная доро́га (želéznaja doróga)track, consisting of parallel rails
- колея́ (kolejá)track, consisting of parallel rails
- железнодоро́жный путь (železnodoróžnyj putʹ)track, consisting of parallel rails
Scottish Gaelic rèile, rathad-iarainn
- rèiletransport system using these rails
- rathad-iarainntrack, consisting of parallel rails
Slovak železnica, železničná trať
- železnicatransport system using these rails
- železničná traťtransport system using these rails
- železnicatrack, consisting of parallel rails
- koľajtrack, consisting of parallel rails
- traťtrack, consisting of parallel rails
Spanish ferrocarril, ferrovía
- ferrocarriltransport system using these rails
- ferrovíatransport system using these rails
- vía férreatrack, consisting of parallel rails
- ferrocarriltrack, consisting of parallel rails
- línea férreatrack, consisting of parallel rails
- carril ferroviariotrack, consisting of parallel rails
- carril ferrovialtrack, consisting of parallel rails
- ferrovíatrack, consisting of parallel rails
Swedish järnväg, järnväg
- järnvägtransport system using these rails
- järnvägtrack, consisting of parallel rails
- järnvägsspårtrack, consisting of parallel rails
- rälstrack, consisting of parallel rails
Tagalog daang-bakal, perokaril
- daang-bakaltransport system using these rails
- perokariltrack, consisting of parallel rails
- daang-bakaltrack, consisting of parallel rails
Thai การรถไฟ, รถไฟ
- การรถไฟ (gaan-rót-fai)transport system using these rails
- รถไฟ (rót-fai)transport system using these rails
Turkish demir yolu, şimendifer
- demir yolutransport system using these rails
- şimendifertransport system using these rails
- demir yolutrack, consisting of parallel rails
- şimendifertrack, consisting of parallel rails
Ukrainian залізни́ця, ко́лія
- залізни́ця (zaliznýcja)transport system using these rails
- ко́лія (kólija)track, consisting of parallel rails
- залізни́чна ко́лія (zaliznýčna kólija)track, consisting of parallel rails
Urdu ریلْوے, راہ آہَن
- ریلْوے (relve)transport system using these rails
- راہ آہَن (rāh āhan)transport system using these rails
- راہِ آہَن (rāh-i āhan)transport system using these rails
Vietnamese đường sắt, đường ray
- đường sắttransport system using these rails
- đường raytransport system using these rails
- đường sắttrack, consisting of parallel rails
Welsh rheilffordd, rheilffordd
- rheilfforddtransport system using these rails
- rheilfforddtrack, consisting of parallel rails
Yiddish אײַזנבאַן
- אײַזנבאַן (ayznban)transport system using these rails
Cite this entry
APA
railway. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/railway
MLA
“railway.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/railway. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “railway,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/railway.
Source: railway on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.