Meaning
In British English, a pavement is the hard-surfaced pedestrian path beside a road—the feature usually called a sidewalk in American English.
How it is used
Cambridge Dictionary marks the pedestrian-path sense of pavement as UK English and directly compares it with US sidewalk, while noting that American English commonly uses pavement for the hard surface of a road. Collins independently defines the British sense as a hard-surfaced path beside a road and gives sidewalk as the American regional equivalent.
Examples
- “Stay on the pavement until it's safe to cross.”
- “The café has tables out on the pavement.”
- “Her suitcase was blocking part of the pavement.”
Pronunciation
/ˈpeɪv.mənt/ · PAYV-muhnt
Tone and register
Neutral, standard, and extremely common in British English. Pavement is not slang.
Visitor guidance
Visitors from North America should pay attention to the dialect difference: in Britain, walk on the pavement normally means walk on the sidewalk, not walk in the roadway. The word also has broader technical and material senses, so context still matters. This entry explains vocabulary only; road-safety rules, cycling restrictions, parking rules, accessibility requirements, and temporary closures should be checked against current signs and official guidance.
Cultural context
Pavement is high-value visitor vocabulary because it appears in directions, street descriptions, property information, accessibility discussions, local news, and everyday conversation. The British-versus-American meaning difference is especially important because both dialects use the same word but often picture different parts of the street.
Places represented
Open the reviewed place guide for each regional sense carried by this canonical entry.