Word.ws English Dictionary

byway

/ˈbaɪweɪ/

byway noun: a road or track not following a main route; a secondary or minor road or path.

byway: a road or track not following a main route; a secondary or minor road or path
Image: Nick Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

byway (plural byways)

  1. A road or track not following a main route; a secondary or minor road or path.
    • Near-synonyms: back road, back street, back lane
    • Although some of its individuality has been lost, this railway byway in North Essex still retains its charm, and is well worthy of exploration by railway enthusiasts.1960 April, “Colne Valley Centenary”, in Railway Magazine, page 224
  2. A road that is not frequently travelled.
  3. (broadly) a little-known or arcane field of study or detail.
    • Though his account of written communication over the past 5,000 years necessarily has a powerful forward momentum, his diversions down the fascinating byways of the subject are irresistible ...2013 September 14, Jane Shilling, “The Golden Thread: the Story of Writing, by Ewan Clayton, review [print edition: Illuminating language]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), page R29

byway meaning in Telugu and Sanskrit

byway in Telugu

a byway, alley
పుంత punta

byway in Sanskrit

a byway, secret way
कुसृति kusṛti

Synonyms of byway

Forms of byway

pluralbyways
alternative formby-way
alternative formbyeway

Origin of byway

From Middle English bywey, equivalent to by- + way.

Words formed from byway

Words that rhyme with byway

Questions about byway

What does byway mean?
Byway means a road or track not following a main route; a secondary or minor road or path.
What is byway in Telugu?
Byway in Telugu is పుంత (punta). See Byway meaning in Telugu.
What part of speech is byway?
Byway is a noun.
How do you pronounce byway?
Byway is pronounced /ˈbaɪweɪ/.
What is the plural of byway?
The plural of byway is byways.

Words near byway in the dictionary

  1. bywalks
  2. bywash
  3. Bywater
  4. Bywaters
  5. Bywaters' syndrome
  6. byway
  7. byway open to all traffic
  8. byways
  9. byways open to all traffic
  10. Bywell
  11. bywoner

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: byway (page history and authors); పుంత (Telugu) (page history and authors); कुसृति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-byway.wav.

Cite this entry: “byway.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/byway. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.