avenue

The word “avenue” means a wide street, often lined with trees. In plain terms, a street (often grand or tree-lined), or figuratively, a route or option toward a goal.

“Avenue” is pronounced AV-uh-nyoo (/ˈæv.əˌn(j)u/ in IPA).

Here is “avenue” used in a sentence: “Their apartment overlooks a quiet, tree-lined avenue.”

“Avenue” is a noun.

The word “avenue” comes from Latin. From French avenue, the feminine past participle of avenir, "to approach," from Latin advenire, "to come to.".

“Avenue” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B1 level.

“Avenue” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a wide street, often lined with trees.

A street is the general word for any public road with buildings along it. An avenue is a particular kind of street: wide, and typically lined with trees. In practice, city planners often use 'avenue' for grander through-roads, though the names on a map do not always follow a strict rule.

Both are wide, often tree-lined streets, but a boulevard is usually the grander of the two: a broad, multi-lane thoroughfare, sometimes with a planted central strip. An avenue is wide and typically tree-lined but need not be so large. In everyday use the two words heavily overlap.

Trees give an avenue its character, providing shade, beauty, and a sense of grandeur along the route. Rows of trees frame the road, cool the air in summer, and soften the hard lines of surrounding buildings. This tradition of tree-planting is exactly what sets an avenue apart from an ordinary street.

Some of the world's best-known streets are avenues, such as Fifth Avenue in New York, Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, and Shaftesbury Avenue in London. These wide, prominent roads often host shops, landmarks, or government buildings, showing how the word 'avenue' tends to signal an important or stately street.