route-one

adjective

Pertaining to route one football.

Meanings

adjectiveroute-one (comparative more route-one, superlative most route-one)

comparative more route-one · superlative most route-one

  1. Pertaining to route one football.

    But the Warlington midfield surrounded Ben, making a square ball to Lee on the left his only real option unless he went for a route one hit-and-hope. But Ben just wasn't a route one kind of player

    2012 January 31, Tony Bradman, Under Pressure, Random House, →ISBN, page 202
  2. UKslangDirect, basic, unsubtle, brute force.

    You are less likely to drop dead, because lack of exercise is the second-biggest killer of middle-aged men after smoking. It's all really simple, route-one stuff.

    2020 September 10, Matt Rudd, Man Down: Why Men Are Unhappy and What We Can Do About It, Hachette UK, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    They were blindingly primitive, powered by Clark's anti-jazz drums, relentless two-note saxophone and Mike Smith's raw bellowed vocals. Unlike the early-sixties Spurs team that Clark watched from the terraces, this was route-one stuff.

    2013 September 13, Bob Stanley, Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop, Faber & Faber, →ISBN, page 9

    It was a calculated route-one strategy, but would it work? If they dragged these unsuspecting punters in with the music, the album's content would certainly make them think.

    2019 March 14, Sara Hawys Roberts, Leon Noakes, Withdrawn Traces: Searching for the Truth about Richey Manic, Foreword by Rachel Edwards, Random House, →ISBN

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

From route one football, a very direct association football strategy.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: route-one on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.