Standard Lemma guide

macadamize

verb · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

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1

verb

Meaning 1

To cover (a road) with macadam (small, broken stones) so as to form a smooth, hard, convex surface.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: American and Oxford British spelling

Examples

  • 1860, Review of Erastus C. Benedict, A Run Through Europe, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Volume 21, p. 546, He pointed to the macadamized streets about that great hospital, and said, “The managers applied to the Emperor to macadamize the streets, to prevent the noise, and he did it. He does all that is asked of him.” Some say, however, that the Emperor is so ready to macadamize, because paving stones are so convenient in revolutionary barricades.
  • 1900, Aylmer Maude (translator), The Slavery of Our Times by Leo Tolstoy, Maldon, Essex: The Free Age Press, Chapter 6, p. 55, But even if a means could be found to get all to agree to produce certain articles (though there is no such means, and can be none, except coercion), who, in a free society, without capitalistic production, competition and its law of supply and demand, will decide which articles are to have the preference? Which are to be made first, and which after? Are we first to build the Siberian railway and fortify Port-Arthur, and then macadamise the roads in our country districts, or vice versâ?

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: macadam

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

surface with macadam

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • macadam the road

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: macadamise, tarmac

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: coat, surface

History

Etymology

From macadam + -ize, after Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam who pioneered this method of road construction around 1820.

Across languages

Translations

8 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: macadamitzar — Translations
  • Esperanto: makadami — Translations
  • French: macadamiser — Translations
  • German: makadamisieren — Translations
  • Italian: macadamizzare — Translations
  • Portuguese: macadamizar — Translations
  • Romanian: macadamiza — Translations
  • Spanish: macadamizar — Translations