junction

Everyday

1. A place where two or more roads, railway lines or paths meet or cross. tree →
2. A place where things join, like wires or rivers. tree →

In the lessons

In road-safety lessons, junctions are dangerous places: cars may turn across your path, so stop, look both ways and listen, and cross away from the corner at a crossing if you can. On a map, junctions are where roads meet; motorways have numbered junctions in the UK. In science, a junction in a circuit is where wires branch. Phrases: «at the junction», «T-junction», «road junction», «railway junction».

Examples

• Stop at the junction and look both ways. tree →
• Turn left at the next junction. tree →
• A T-junction is where one road meets another like the letter T. tree →
• Cars slow down at a busy junction. tree →
• Our train waited at the railway junction. tree →
• Cyclists must be careful at junctions. tree →
• Leave the motorway at junction 5. tree →
• The two rivers meet at a junction near the town. tree →

Note

Countable. Similar: «intersection» (American English for a road junction), «crossroads» (where two roads cross). British drivers drive on the left, Americans on the right, so look the right way first at a junction.