roadside

R1O1A1D2S1I1D2E1
UK/ˈɹəʊdsaɪd/US/ˈɹoʊdsaɪd/

adjective

Located beside a road (or railway).

“I pulled over to the roadside to check the map.”

Similar
side of the roadwayside
Less commonScrabble 10

Meanings

adjectiveroadside (not comparable)
  1. attributivenot comparableLocated beside a road (or railway).

    The roadside stand did a good business just selling products to people who merely wanted directions.

    3 more examples

    I was rather impressed with the neat and tidy appearance of these roadside stations, many of which had their name boards painted in the blue and white colours of the Scottish Region.

    1950 January, Arthur F. Beckenham, “With British Railways to the Far North”, in Railway Magazine, pages 5–6

    The roadside section of the tramway is limited to 12 m.p.h., except over the oblique road crossings, where speed is restricted to 4 m.p.h., with a compulsory stop immediately before.

    1951 May, R. K. Kirkland, “The Cavan & Leitrim Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 344

    David Cameron has said the government will "look carefully" at the use of heavily armoured vehicles after three British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb while travelling in a Mastiff troop carrier.

    2013 May 1, Nicholas Watt, Nick Hopkins, “Afghanistan bomb: UK to 'look carefully' at use of vehicles”, in The Guardian
nounroadside (plural roadsides)

plural roadsides

  1. The area on either side of a road.

    I pulled over to the roadside to check the map.

    Synonyms: side of the road

Synonyms & antonyms

nounThe area on either side of a road.

Similar
side of the road

More synonyms by meaning

nounedge of a way or road or path

Similar
Broader
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Germanic*raidō
  2. Proto-West Germanic*raidu
  3. Old Englishrād
  4. Middle Englishrode
  5. Englishroad
  6. Proto-Indo-European*seh₁-
  7. Proto-Germanic*sīdaz
  8. Proto-Germanic*sīdǭ
  9. Old Englishsīde
  10. Middle Englishside
  11. Englishside
  12. Englishroadside

From road + -side.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan voral
  • voralarea on either side of a road
Chinese Cantonese 路邊 /路边
  • 路邊 /路边 (lou⁶ bin¹)area on either side of a road
Chinese Mandarin 路邊 /路边
  • 路邊 /路边 (lùbiān)area on either side of a road
Dutch stoeprand, berm
  • stoeprandarea on either side of a road
  • bermarea on either side of a road
Finnish piennar, tienlaita
  • piennararea on either side of a road
  • tienlaitaarea on either side of a road
  • tiensyrjäarea on either side of a road
  • tienvarsiarea on either side of a road
German Straßenrand
  • Straßenrandarea on either side of a road
Irish colbha bóthair
  • colbha bóthairarea on either side of a road
Japanese 道端
  • 道端 (michibata)area on either side of a road
Korean 길가
  • 길가 (gilga)area on either side of a road
Norwegian Bokmål veikant, vegkant
  • veikantarea on either side of a road
  • vegkantarea on either side of a road
Polish pobocze, przydroże
  • poboczearea on either side of a road
  • przydrożearea on either side of a road
Portuguese berma, acostamento
  • bermaarea on either side of a road
  • acostamentoarea on either side of a road
Russian обо́чина
  • обо́чина (obóčina)area on either side of a road
Spanish arcén
  • arcénarea on either side of a road
Swedish vägkant, vägren
  • vägkantarea on either side of a road
  • vägrenarea on either side of a road
Tagalog tabindaan, baybay-daan
  • tabindaanarea on either side of a road
  • baybay-daanarea on either side of a road
Vietnamese rệ đường
  • rệ đườngarea on either side of a road

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

roadside. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roadside

MLA

“roadside.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roadside. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “roadside,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roadside.

Source: roadside on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.