roadbed
2
6.7
- noun
- /ˈroʊdˌbɛd/
- Specialized
:
subbase
- Engineers inspected the roadbed to ensure it was stable enough to support heavy trains.
- an old roadbed
- a cinder roadbed
- a flat roadbed
Examples
-
The construction crew is laying gravel to create a solid roadbed for the new highway.
-
Far away in the darkness, the sound of hoofbeats echoed on the rock-hard roadbed.
Fiction book (1992) -
To this day, a proper roadbed has never been laid.
Academic text (1991) -
A dark lake had formed and risen above the edge of the elevated roadbed.
Fiction book (1991) -
Orchards border the roadbed of the railway.
Fiction book (1996) -
The truck raced up the roadbed, across the asphalt, and bounded back into the dust.
Academic text (2002) -
The road was flanked by a city bus depot and the sloping roadbed of the Harlem River Drive.
Fiction book (1998) -
They're at the apron of the bridge securing lumber supports for the roadbed.
Fiction book (2000) -
Recycled pavement is used to make new pavement, roadbeds, shoulders, and embankments.
Academic text (2000) -
The shuttle rocked and bumped along the strip of road, shaken by ruts and fissures in the roadbed.
Fiction book (1990)
Synonyms
128
5.2
The bottom layer of earth or rock that supports a road
1
4.3
A layer of earth and stones under train tracks that supports them
The ground layer prepared to support a road or pavement
How Stable
- Specialized
2
6.7
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Roadbed joins road and bed. A 'bed' here means 'a layer or base where something rests', as in riverbed or flowerbed, so roadbed is the strong base that supports a road or railway.