Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use rail in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Rail means a horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing. Example: “We travelled to the seaside by rail.”

Examples of rail by meaning

nounA horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing.

  • I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

nounThe metal bar forming part of the track for a railroad.

  • Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly)

nounA railroad; a railway, as a means of transportation.

  • We travelled to the seaside by rail.
  • a small Scottish village not accessible by rail

nounA conductor maintained at a fixed electrical potential relative to ground, to which other circuit components are...

  • ISA devices draw power from the +5 V, −5 V, +12 V, and −12 V rails of the power supply unit.
  • There has been another, fairly gradual change in the ATX specification: Initially a lot of power was supplied on the 5V and 3.3V rails, but over time more and more power shifted to 12V because it's more efficient.2019 December 5, Michal Necasek, “Power Trouble”, in OS/2 Museum, archived from the original on 25 Sep 2022

nounOne of the lengthwise edges of a surfboard.

  • Rails alone can only ever have a marginal effect on a board's general turning ability.c. 2000, Nick Carroll, surfline.com http://www.surfline.com/community/whoknows/10_21_rails.cfm

nounA vertical section on one side of a web page.

  • We're experimenting with ads in the right-hand rail.

nounA large line (portion or serving of a powdery illegal drug).

  • Do a couple rails and chase your own tail2013, Jason Isbell, Super 8

verbTo enclose with rails or a railing.

  • They ought to rail off the playground.

More sentences with rail

  • As its name suggests, the monorail runs on a single rail.From the entry run
  • His extreme love of model trains showed in the rails that criscrossed his entire home.From the entry extreme
  • Route 9 is a deathtrap; they should at least put up guard rails.From the entry deathtrap
  • His new skateboard rail is about 10' long, 4" wide and 8" off the ground.From the entry skateboard rail
  • At fifteen, he was already six feet tall and skinny as a rail.From the entry skinny as a rail
  • Stand clear of the rails, a train is coming.From the entry clear
  • The two rail lines meet at a major junction.From the entry junction
  • The new Denver light rail runs along the Interstate highway.From the entry light rail
  • In road and rail traffic liability is excluded for accidents which are due to circumstances amounting to an Act of God.From the entry act of God
  • Cotton was increasingly shipped by rail.From the entry by rail
  • I took the commuter rail in to work today, since it's quicker and more convenient than driving on the highway at rush hour.From the entry commuter rail
  • (specifically, Malaysia) Ellipsis of KTM ETS (Kereta Tanah Melayu Electric Train Service), an intercity high-speed rail service for major cities along the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia.From the entry ETS
  • Finally, there's also operational damage through impact energy from wheels hitting the rail.2026 March 18, Peter Plisner, “Tackling broken rails: the skills and technology improving safety”, in RAIL, number 1057, pages 30-31. From the entry abnormality
  • Rail Minister Lord Hendy was quizzed by the same MPs at an earlier hearing.2026 March 18, Peter Plisner, “Will devolution deliver real local control?”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 47. From the entry quiz
  • The good news is that data on broken rail incidents is showing a sustained downward trend.2026 March 18, Peter Plisner, “Tackling broken rails: the skills and technology improving safety”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 31. From the entry downward
  • Rail buckling is kind of part of the business in some capacity.2026 May 6, “How the MBTA Handles Climate Change” (35:36 from the start), in Spilling the T (podcast), spoken by Caroline Bean, MBTA. From the entry buckle
  • The entire rail network has long operated its own masts, used for communicating with drivers.2025 October 1, Paul Clifton, “Reaching out for superfast WiFi”, in RAIL, number 1045, page 50. From the entry gsm
  • Yet if you invest to hold rail fares, it's seen as subsidy."2025 May 28, Ben Plowden talks to Anthony Lambert, “The railway is an essential public service”, in RAIL, number 1036, page 33. From the entry foregone
  • And according to Hughes, HM Treasury is still sceptical about rail electrification.2025 February 5, Peter Plisner, “East West Rail: progress from west to east”, in RAIL, number 1028, page 30. From the entry perspective
  • The measures for rail that were genuinely new were welcomed, although some had hoped for more.2024 November 13, Dickon Ross, “Opinion”, in RAIL, number 1022, page 3. From the entry tie up loose ends
  • The important thing, however, is that the long-suffering city is again reachable by rail.2024 September 4, Vitali Vitaliev, “A salute to Ukraine's 'Second Army'”, in RAIL, number 1017, page 47. From the entry long-suffering
  • The train did not come off the rails and nobody was injured.2024 February 21, “Safety changes recommended after train hits collapsed wall”, in RAIL, number 1003, page 19. From the entry off the rails
  • Ultimately, it was environomics that did for coal — and with it rail haulage.2024 March 6, Philip Haigh, “The decline of coal... and of rail freight's staple traffic”, in RAIL, number 1004, page 55. From the entry environomics
  • Any local businesses looking to use rail freight now have a tailor-made facility ready and waiting.2023 December 27, Richard Foster, “New rail freight terminal leads the way”, in RAIL, number 999, page 41. From the entry tailor-made
  • The financial growth reflects the return of passengers to rail and bus.2023 December 13, Mel Holley, “Network News: Open access operations help to boost First's figures”, in RAIL, number 998, page 20. From the entry flat fare
  • The PM hit the headlines again for taking short-distance air travel rather than rail.2023 June 14, Mel Holley, “Network News: One year on: rail strikes still at a stalemate”, in RAIL, number 985, page 11. From the entry short-distance
  • And we believe in investing in rail for the future of this country.2023 May 31, Mel Holley, “Network News: ASLEF recommends £71,000 pay deal for TfW drivers”, in RAIL, number 984, page 21. From the entry fairly and squarely
  • A lot of rail embankments have been solidified by knotweed because the roots are so strong.2022 June 29, Paul Clifton, “Using AI technology to manage lineside vegetation”, in RAIL, number 960, page 32. From the entry Japanese knotweed
  • The present traincrew difficulties that beset the UK rail industry are neither new nor were they unforeseeable.2022 November 16, Graham Eccles, “The Rest Day Working saga...”, in RAIL, number 970, page 32. From the entry black art
  • With funding best described as tight, we look to be entering a painful period for rail.2022 December 14, Philip Haigh, “Comment: Tightening the purse strings”, in RAIL, number 972, page 3. From the entry sting in the tail

Meaning of rail

  1. noun A horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing.
  2. noun The metal bar forming part of the track for a railroad.
  3. noun A railroad; a railway, as a means of transportation.

Full definition of rail

Questions about rail in a sentence

How do you use rail in a sentence?
Rail is used as a noun and verb. For example: “We travelled to the seaside by rail.”
What is a short sentence with rail?
“Cotton was increasingly shipped by rail.”
What does rail mean?
Rail means a horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rail (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use rail in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/rail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.