avenue

Meanings

1. A wide street, often lined with trees.
2. A way of approaching or achieving something.

Example sentences

• "The shop is on Fifth Avenue."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

• "A line of tall trees stood along the avenue."

  Level B1, Meaning 1

• "We have explored every avenue to find a solution."

  Level C1, Meaning 2

• "The avenue was full of people at night."

  Level B1, Meaning 1

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• street : Street is the general word for a road in a town. An avenue is usually wider and often has trees.
• boulevard : A boulevard is a wide street with trees or a strip of grass in the middle. An avenue can be similar.

Word family and forms

Forms: avenues

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "avenue".

• a tree-lined avenue
• Fifth Avenue
• explore every avenue
• an avenue of trees
• a wide avenue
• a new avenue of research

Origin

Avenue came into English in the 1590s from French avenue, which meant an approach, from the verb avenir. The French verb comes from Latin advenire, to come to, built from ad, to, and venire, to come. At first an avenue was a way that leads to a place, and later a wide street.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Dictionary.com.

Usage notes

"Avenue" is also used figuratively, as in "explore every avenue" to mean trying every possible approach.

How to remember it

Avenue has venue in it. A venue is a place, and an avenue is a place where you walk.

Test yourself

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