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🚇 An underground train 🚶 An underpass
subway

subway

268 1.0
Underground trains that carry people in a city
  • noun
  • /ˈsʌbˌweɪ/
  • US
translation icon : metro
  • During my visit to New York, I took the subway to explore the city quickly.
  • a subway station
  • the subway system
  • riding the subway

The most expensive mile of subway in the world is in New York City.

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Examples

  • The most expensive mile of subway in the world is in New York City.

    Big Think

  • By the time we said our goodbyes and I made my way to the subway, my breathing was steadier.

    Academic text (2008)

  • OK, yes, off to the subway and off to our first meeting.

  • Guess who I saw on the subway today?

    You've Got Mail (1998)

  • His father, who took the subway to work every day of his life.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • My parents met on the subway in rush hour.

    Lex Fridman

  • I think we're gonna take the subway.

    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

  • I just took the subway to Clinton Hill.

  • This is the 23rd Street subway station.

    Godzilla (1998)

  • Expansion continues on the subway system as an alternative to private vehicles, buses, and taxis.

    Academic text (1993)

Synonyms

tube
vssubway
  • UK
106 2.4

An underground railway in London that carries people

is the general term used for this system outside London
metro
vssubway
50 1.8

An underground train system in a city that carries people

is the alternative name used in other places for the same system
subway system
vssubway
  • US
17 2.4

Electric trains that run under a city and carry many people

is defined by running on electric trains rather than by passenger capacity
underground
vssubway
  • UK
7 3.6

An electric train system that runs below a city's streets

is the American name rather than the British regional label

Compounds

subway station
  • US
22 1.4

A place where underground trains stop to let people on and off

subway system
  • US
17 2.4

Electric trains that run under a city and carry many people

subway train
  • US
7 2.1

A train that runs under a city to carry people

subway token
  • Archaic
2 4.0

A small metal piece like a coin used to pay to enter a subway station

subway fare
  • US
2 2.2

The money you pay to ride the subway

How Fast

monorail
17 3.7
subway
  • US
268 1.0
to tram
  • UK
7.2

Surface Forms

subway singular
subways plural

Morphology

subway = way (semi-transparent) = sub + way

While the components indicate an under-path, the conventionalized sense 'urban underground railway system' is a specialized extension not fully deducible from the parts alone.

Etymology

Subway comes from the parts sub- meaning 'under' and way meaning 'path' or 'road'. Because the trains run under the city, subway became the name for an underground train system.