pave

B2 Topic:Actions & Processes

US /peɪv/ See IPA manual

Freq #26060

Meanings

1

verb
To cover a road or area with a hard surface such as stone or concrete.

The city plans to pave the muddy road next summer.
2

verb
To make something easier to happen in the future, especially in the phrase 'pave the way'.

Her early research paved the way for a major breakthrough.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms pavedpaverpavesrough-pavenunpaved

Derived forms depaveimpavepavementpavenpaverpavesiderepaveunpave

Appears in

Idioms (1)

See all

pave the way
to make it easier for something else to happen or develop

Etymology

From Old French paver (“to pave, to cover”), from Vulgar Latin *pavāre (“to beat down, to smash”), from Latin pavīre (“to beat, strike, ram, tread down”).

paver Old French *pavāre la-vul paviō Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# pave

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /peɪv/
**Frequency rank:** 26060

## Meanings
1. To cover a road or area with a hard surface such as stone or concrete.
2. To make something easier to happen in the future, especially in the phrase 'pave the way'.

## Examples
- The city plans to pave the muddy road next summer.
- Her early research paved the way for a major breakthrough.

## Derived Forms
- depave
- impave
- pavement
- paven
- paver
- paveside
- repave
- unpave

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: paver
- Root: *pavāre
- Root: paviō

## Etymology
From Old French paver (“to pave, to cover”), from Vulgar Latin *pavāre (“to beat down, to smash”), from Latin pavīre (“to beat, strike, ram, tread down”).

## AI Etymology
Pave comes from Old French paver (“to pave, to cover”), from Vulgar Latin *pavāre (“to beat down, to smash”), from Latin pavīre (“to beat, strike, ram, tread down”). Modern senses include to cover a road or area with a hard surface such as stone or concrete and to make something easier to happen in the future, especially in the phrase 'pave the way'. The wider word family includes derivatives such as depave, impave, pavement, paven, paver, and paveside.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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