thoroughfare

Everyday

1. A thoroughfare is a main road or street through a town or city, used by a lot of traffic and people. tree →
2. A thoroughfare is also any route or passage that people go through from one place to another. tree →

In the lessons

In geography and local history it names the busy main roads of a town. On signs «No thoroughfare» means you may not go through: it is a private road or a dead end. Phrases: a busy thoroughfare, main thoroughfare, no thoroughfare.

Examples

• Oxford Street is a busy London thoroughfare. tree →
• The old market square was the town's main thoroughfare. tree →
• The sign on the gate said «No thoroughfare». tree →
• The alley is a popular thoroughfare for pupils walking to school. tree →
• Cross the busy thoroughfare only at the lights. tree →
• Horses and carts once filled the city's thoroughfares. tree →
• One of the branches of the tree had, however, been broken: mischievous hands must have done this in passing, for the tree now stood in a public thoroughfare. tree →

Note

Countable. Spelling: thorough + fare: tho-rough-fare. «Thorough» here keeps its old meaning «through». «No thoroughfare» on a sign means no way through, not «no fare to pay».