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''macadam'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260915190735-00-⌔

macadam - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

macadam (countable and uncountable, plural macadams)

  • (uncountable) The surface of a road consisting of layers of crushed stone (usually tar-coated for modern traffic).
    • ✤ This narrow-gauge line had suffered the same fate as that between Schull and Skibbereen, with the track taken up except where it runs through one of the town streets and is embedded in the macadam.1
  • (US, dated, countable) Any road or street.

Verb

macadam (third-person singular simple present macadams, present participlemacadaming or macadamming, simple past and past participlemacadamed or macadammed)

  • (transitive) To cover or surface with macadam.
    • ✤ Synonym: macadamize

Etymology

Named after Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam (1756–1836), who invented the process of macadamization. Used for describing road surfaces originally constructed using the McAdam method, but now sometimes used for any road or street.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /məˈkædəm/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊

Printed 2026-09-15.

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Footnotes

  1. 1955 May, Rev. A. W. V. Mace, “An Irish Journey—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 304: ↩

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