railroad

Syllables: rail·roadUK/ˈɹeɪlɹəʊd//ˈɹeɪlɹoʊd/

railroad noun: a permanent track consisting of fixed metal rails to drive trains or similar motorized vehicles on.

Noun

railroad (plural railroads)

(Philippines, US) A permanent track consisting of fixed metal rails to drive trains or similar motorized vehicles on.
- Many railroads roughly follow the trace of older land or water roads.
(US) The transportation system comprising such tracks and vehicles fitted to travel on the rails, usually with several vehicles connected together in a train.
(US) A single, privately or publicly owned property comprising one or more such tracks and usually associated assets
- Railroads can only compete fully if their tracks are technically compatible with and linked to each other.
(figuratively) A procedure conducted in haste without due consideration.
- The lawyers made the procedure a railroad to get the signatures they needed.
- Gregory Scroggins, a PWA [person with AIDS] in Georgia who was found guilty of assault with intent to commit murder for biting a cop during arrest. It took only three days in October of 1989 to charge, try, convict and sentence Scroggins, who is now serving a 10-year sentence and has been denied...1990 April 28, Jennie McKnight, “Is Saliva A Murder Weapon?”, in Gay Community News, page 6

Verb

railroad (third-person singular simple present railroads, present participle railroading, simple past and past participle railroaded)

(transitive) To transport via railroad.
(intransitive) To operate a railroad.
- The Thatcherite experiment proved the private sector can railroad as inefficiently as a state monopoly.
(intransitive) To work for a railroad.
- She used to railroad for the Southern Pacific.
(intransitive) To travel by railroad.
(intransitive) To engage in a hobby pertaining to railroads.
(transitive) To manipulate and hasten a procedure, as of formal approval of a law or resolution.
- The majority railroaded the bill through parliament, without the customary expert studies which would delay it till after the elections.
- Sebastian Riedel lodged a complaint with TPF board, which he says was railroaded by a board member—therefore, Riedel quit.2021 August 14, Jim Salter, quoting Sebastian Riedel, “The Perl Foundation is fragmenting over Code of Conduct enforcement”, in Ars Technica
(transitive) To convict of a crime by circumventing due process.
- They could only convict him by railroading him on suspect drug-possession charges.
- My witnesses were not questioned to my advantage. Physical evidence in my attorney's possession was not presented to the jury. A promised expert witness was not called nor even sought. I knew that I was being railroaded but I was helpless.1985 August 24, Robert Butler, “Sex More Punished Than Murder”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 7, page 5
(transitive) To procedurally bully someone into an unfair agreement.
- He was railroaded into signing a non-disclosure agreement at his exit interview.
- Also on Friday, The Daily News published a column by Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, who wrote that Mr. Cuomo had been “railroaded” by Ms. James, a Democrat who is considered a possible candidate for governor next year but who has not said she plans to run.2021 August 20, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, quoting Richard Azzopardi, “Cuomo Continues to Challenge His Accusers as Moving Trucks Are Loaded”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
(roleplaying games) To force players to follow the dungeon master's planned plot rather than improvise an alternative story.
(upholstery) To run fabric horizontally instead of the usual vertically.
- If you are upholstering a larger item, such as a sofa, it's a good idea to see if the fabric you are buying can be railroaded. Railroading refers to being able to run the fabric from left to right, rather than the conventional top to bottom. […][W]hen a pattern is railroaded you can turn it on its...2015, Vicky Grubb, The Beginner's Guide to Upholstery, David & Charles

Proper noun capitalized: Railroad

Railroad

A borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States, so-named for the Northern Central Railway.
A township in Starke County, Indiana, United States.

railroad meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

railroad in Tamil

railroad, train track, railway: இருப்புப்பாதை iruppuppātai

railroad in Urdu

ریل روڈ

railroad in Bengali

রেলপথ

railroad in Malayalam

റെയില്പാത

More languagesFewer languages

railroad in Kannada: ರೈಲುರಸ್ತೆ, ಹಳಿಗಳ ಮಾರ್ಗ
railroad in Punjabi: ਪਟੜੀ paṭṛī
railroad in Gujarati: રેલરોડ
railroad in Nepali: रेलमार्ग

Examples of railroad in a sentence

What appears suspect about the Beeching Report is how quickly it was railroaded through, with the answers manufactured before the questions were asked.2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 52:
"All of us feel he's being railroaded and used as a scapegoat for Nato's attack on Yugoslavia.2001 July 7, Ian Black, quoting André Tremblay, “Defenders emerge for Milosevic”, in The Guardian:
Stark reminder of how an innocent man can be railroaded into spending years in jail [title]2006 November 11, Duncan Campbell, “Stark reminder of how an innocent man can be railroaded into spending years in jail”, in The Guardian:
If you are upholstering a larger item, such as a sofa, it's a good idea to see if the fabric you are buying can be railroaded.2015, Vicky Grubb, The Beginner's Guide to Upholstery, David & Charles:

All 40 example sentences with railroad

Synonyms of railroad

railway

Forms of railroad

Noun
plural	railroads
Verb
third-person singular present	railroads
present participle	railroading
past participle	railroaded
past	railroaded

Plural of railroad: railroads

Origin of railroad

From rail + road.

Words formed from railroad

Phrases with railroad

1 more phrasesFewer phrases

railroad engineers

Questions about railroad

What does railroad mean?: Railroad means a permanent track consisting of fixed metal rails to drive trains or similar motorized vehicles on.
What is railroad in Tamil?: Railroad in Tamil is இருப்புப்பாதை (iruppuppātai). See Railroad meaning in Tamil.
How do you use railroad in a sentence?: What appears suspect about the Beeching Report is how quickly it was railroaded through, with the answers manufactured before the questions were asked.
What part of speech is railroad?: Railroad can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce railroad?: Railroad is pronounced /ˈɹeɪlɹoʊd/ (US).
What is the plural of railroad?: The plural of railroad is railroads.

Words near railroad in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: railroad (page history and authors); Railroad (page history and authors); இருப்புப்பாதை (Tamil) (page history and authors); railroad (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); railroad (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); railroad (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); railroad (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਪਟੜੀ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); railroad (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); railroad (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-railroad.ogg.

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