road vs street.

Question

I don/t see a clear difference between street and road. Below are the definitions:

Street:

a. Abbr. St. A public way or thoroughfare in a city or town, usually with a sidewalk or sidewalks.

b. Such a public way considered apart from the sidewalks: Don't play in the street.

c. A public way or road along with the houses or buildings abutting it: lives on a quiet street.

Road:

1.

a. Abbr. Rd. An open, generally public way for the passage of vehicles, people, and animals.

b. The surface of a road; a roadbed.

Are they interchangable?

Thanks in advance!

Ant_222 · Accepted Answer

A street is a road with buildings on one or both sides. It is usually located within a settlement.

Don't you want to translate these words into your native language to see the difference?

New2grammar · Answer

Thanks Ant_222 for pointing that out.

CalifJim · Answer

A street is in a built-up area -- a town, a city. Traffic moves slowly on streets.
A road is in less populated areas between built-up areas, connecting towns and cities. Traffic may move quite fast on roads.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

i am studying a road which connects my city to the other half of it,also its a approach road to the city.but as its passes through the high density area of the city(its width is 24m),can i use the term 'street' for it..??
please reply.

CalifJim · Answer

If there is no English word already established for it, you can be the first to give it an English name. You can use either "road" or "street", but from your description, I would probably select the word "road", even though a portion of it passes through a high-density area.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

A road is an established path that will connect two points, ex. two towns/cities. A street is an established path in the city or town. As a town grows, a former road may be included inside the town as a street. Although the two are indeed interchangeable, road is the more general term. A street is a road but not all roads are streets.

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJimA street is in a built-up area -- a town, a city. Traffic moves slowly on streets.

Until the city decides that they need traffic to move faster on this particular street, so they widen it, eliminate parking, etc.

CalifJimA road is in less populated areas between built-up areas, connecting towns and cities. Traffic may move quite fast on roads.

Until the populated areas grow to include the road and it becomes indistinguishable from a "street".

Short version: the distinction might have meant something when the street/road was laid out, but it disappears over time, and changing the maps is too much of a pain.

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road vs street.

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