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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

tarmac.

Tarmacadam.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈtɑː(ɹ)mæk/
  1. Tarmacadam.

    countable · uncountable
  2. Any bituminous road surfacing material.

    Canada · Ireland · UK · broadly · countable · uncountable
  3. The driveable surface of a road.

    Canada · Ireland · UK · countable · uncountable
  4. The area of an airport, other than the runway, where planes park or maneuver.

    countable · informal · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Clipping of tarmacadam, which is from tar + macadam (“crushed stones”). Originally a trademark owned by its inventor, Edgar Hooley.

verb/ˈtɑː(ɹ)mæk/
  1. To pave with tarmacadam or a similar material.

    Canada · UK
  2. To spend time idling on a runway, usually waiting for takeoff clearance.

Where this word comes from

Clipping of tarmacadam, which is from tar + macadam (“crushed stones”). Originally a trademark owned by its inventor, Edgar Hooley.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.