Dictionary

right of way en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The right to proceed first in traffic, on land, on water or in the air. Also in metaphorical senses.
   • Even when you have the right of way, you must take action to avoid a collision if another boat fails to give way. 1994, Di Goodman, Ian Brodie, Learning to Sail, →ISBN, page 86:
2. (countable) A legal right of passage over another's land or pathways.
   • 2000, "Countryside and Rights of Way Act (2000) (c.37)" (UK), II.48(4), “restricted byway” means a highway over which the public have restricted byway rights, with or without a right to drive animals of any description along the highway, but no other rights of way.
3. (countable) A strip of land or alignment where portions of a roadway, railway, power line, or other utilities and their associated structures and facilities is located or passes acquired through eminent domain or expropriation.
   • Meronym: permanent way
   • Phillips granted a right-of-way to the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1873. 1941, Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration, Los Angeles: A Guide to the City and its Environs, page 307:
   • The rail might still buckle when it's extremely cold. A signals box, that's a metal box on the side of the right of way, might still overheat. So we need to make sure that our operational capacity to respond to those potential disruptions and address them as quickly as possible is a really robust part of our operations. Rail buckling is kind of part of the business in some capacity. That's what we hear from other transit agencies working in the South for example, with extreme heat. 2026 May 6, “How the MBTA Handles Climate Change” (35:36 from the start), in Spilling the T (podcast), spoken by Caroline Bean, MBTA:
4. (countable) Land on which a right of way exists.
   • New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans a rail line on an unused right of way of the Long Island Rail Road between JFK and Penn Station to whisk passengers to midtown Manhattan in twenty minutes. 1970, Diana L. Reische, Problems of Mass Transportation, →ISBN, page 143:
5. (countable) The area modified for passage of a railway; often specifically the railbed and tracks.
   • For example, if a railroad is required to connect a mine and a smelter, it is necessary to construct a right of way, to lay tracks, etc. 1948, Howard Rothmann Bowen, Toward Social Economy, page 71:
   • Mayne, speaking at the 1999 meeting, ranked the trees along the right-of-way as "old growth" or "rare," although she never defined these terms. 2006, Jane Bloodworth Rowe, “Ferrell Parkway”, in Echoes from the Poisoned Well: Global Memories of Environmental Injustice, →ISBN, page 187:
6. (uncountable) The priority granted to the first person to properly execute an attack.
   • In foil the important thing is to be sure you have the right of way. You gain right of way by starting the attack first or beating the blade last. 2002, Elaine Cheris, Fencing: Steps to Success, →ISBN, page 63:
7. (countable, qualifier:Wisconsin, uncountable) The strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street.

Forms

Synonyms

permanent way

Translations (70)

ko 우선통행권 (right to proceed first in traffic) · cy blaenoriaeth (right to proceed first in traffic) · fr voie (area modified for passage of a railway) · nb forkjørsrett (right to proceed first in traffic) · nl voorrang (right to proceed first in traffic) · fi rautatiealue (land on which a right of way exists) · es prioridad (right to proceed first in traffic) · is umferðarréttur (right to proceed first in traffic) · de Vortritt (right to proceed first in traffic) · hu elsőbbség (right to proceed first in traffic) · de Wegerecht (legal right of passage) · pl nawierzchnia (area modified for passage of a railway) · fi käyttöoikeus (legal right of passage) · sv often mistakenly called förkörsrätt (right to proceed first in traffic) · hu útszolgalom (legal right of passage) · sk prednosť v jazde (right to proceed first in traffic) · bg предимство (right to proceed first in traffic) · vi lối đi ưu tiên (land on which a right of way exists) · cmn 路權 /路权 (right to proceed first in traffic) · fr voie ferrée (area modified for passage of a railway) · pl nawierzchnia (strip of land or alignment where portions of an infrastructure and their associated structures and facilities is located) · oc prioritat (right to proceed first in traffic) · sl prednost (right to proceed first in traffic) · es preferencia (right to proceed first in traffic) · gd còir-slighe (land on which a right of way exists) · fi rautatiealue (area modified for passage of a railway) · sv företräde (right to proceed first in traffic) · fr servitude (legal right of passage) · hu szolgalom (legal right of passage) · fi etuajo-oikeus (right to proceed first in traffic) · fi tieoikeus (legal right of passage) · vi lối ra vào (land on which a right of way exists) · de Vorfahrt (right to proceed first in traffic) · fi rataoikeus (strip of land or alignment where portions of an infrastructure and their associated structures and facilities is located) · ca prioritat (right to proceed first in traffic) · pl pierwszeństwo (fencing: priority) · vi lộ giới (strip of land or alignment where portions of an infrastructure and their associated structures and facilities is located) · oc camin de fèrre (area modified for passage of a railway) · sk právo prechodu (legal right of passage) · nn forkøyrsrett (right to proceed first in traffic) · fr priorité (fencing: priority) · ga ceart bealaigh (right to proceed first in traffic) · ru приоритет (right to proceed first in traffic) · hu átjárás joga (legal right of passage) · de Vorrang (right to proceed first in traffic) · ko 통행권 (legal right of passage) · fi tiealue (land on which a right of way exists) · pl pierwszeństwo (legal right of passage) · fr priorité (right to proceed first in traffic) · es derecho de paso (legal right of passage) · fi tieoikeus (strip of land or alignment where portions of an infrastructure and their associated structures and facilities is located) · vi quyền có lối đi (legal right of passage) · el δικαίωμα πορείας (right to proceed first in traffic) · vi hành lang (strip of land or alignment where portions of an infrastructure and their associated structures and facilities is located) · da forkørselsret (right to proceed first in traffic) · pl nawierzchnia (land on which a right of way exists) · hu átjárási jog (legal right of passage) · fr droit de passage (legal right of passage) · pt serventia (legal right of passage) · es derecho de vía (legal right of passage) · pt preferência (right to proceed first in traffic) · gd còir-slighe (legal right of passage) · pt prioridade (right to proceed first in traffic) · el προτεραιότητα (right to proceed first in traffic) · fr droit de passage (strip of land or alignment where portions of an infrastructure and their associated structures and facilities is located) · es servidumbre de paso (strip of land or alignment where portions of an infrastructure and their associated structures and facilities is located) · fi etuoikeus (fencing: priority) · pl pierwszeństwo (right to proceed first in traffic) · de Treffervorrecht (fencing: priority) · hu szolgalmi jog (legal right of passage)