macadam
/məˈkædəm/
macadam noun: the surface of a road consisting of layers of crushed stone (usually tar-coated for modern traffic).
Noun
macadam (countable and uncountable, plural macadams)
- 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.1955 May, Rev. A. W. V. Mace, “An Irish Journey—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 304
- Any road or street.
Verb
macadam (third-person singular simple present macadams, present participle macadaming or macadamming, simple past and past participle macadamed or macadammed)
- To cover or surface with macadam.
- Synonyms:
- macadamize
Proper noun (1) capitalized: MacAdam
MacAdam
- A surname from Scottish Gaelic.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Macadam
Macadam
- Alternative spelling of MacAdam.
Synonyms of macadam
Forms of macadam
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | macadams |
| alternative form | McAdam |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | macadams |
| present participle | macadaming |
| present participle | macadamming |
| past participle | macadamed |
| past | macadamed |
| past participle | macadammed |
| past | macadammed |
| Proper noun | |
| alternative form | Macadam |
| alternative form | McKeggie |
Origin of macadam
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.
Derived from Scottish Gaelic Mac Àdhaimh (“Adam's son”).
Words formed from macadam
Questions about macadam
- What does macadam mean?
- Macadam means the surface of a road consisting of layers of crushed stone (usually tar-coated for modern traffic).
- What part of speech is macadam?
- Macadam can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce macadam?
- Macadam is pronounced /məˈkædəm/ (UK).
- What is the plural of macadam?
- The plural of macadam is macadams.
Words near macadam in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: macadam (page history and authors); MacAdam (page history and authors); Macadam (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)-Vealhurl-macadam.wav.
Cite this entry: “macadam.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/macadam. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.