different between road vs trace

English

Alternative forms

• rade (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English rode, rade (“ride, journey”), from Old English r?d (“riding, hostile incursion”), from Proto-West Germanic *raidu, from Proto-Germanic *raid? (“a ride”), from Proto-Indo-European *reyd?- (“to ride”). Doublet of raid, acquired from Scots, and West Frisian reed (paved trail/road, driveway).

The current primary meaning of "street, way for traveling" originated relatively late—Shakespeare seemed to expect his audiences to find it unfamiliar—and probably arose through reinterpetation of roadway as a tautological compound.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: r?d, IPA^(key): /???d/
• (General American) enPR: r?d, IPA^(key): /?o?d/
• Rhymes: -??d
• Homophones: Rhode, rode, rowed

Noun

road (plural roads)

1. A way used for travelling between places, originally one wide enough to allow foot passengers and horses to travel, now (US) usually one surfaced with asphalt or concrete and designed to accommodate many vehicles travelling in both directions. In the UK both senses are heard: a country road is the same as a country lane. [from 16th c.]
2. (uncountable) Roads in general as a means of travel, especially by motor vehicle.

3. A way or route.
   • 1855-1857, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit

     He stirred up his hair with his sprightliest expression, glanced at the little figure again, said ‘Good evening, ma ‘am; don’t come down, Mrs Affery, I know the road to the door,’ and steamed out.
4. (figuratively) A path chosen in life or career. [from 17th c.]
   • 1964, Ronald Reagan: A Time for Choosing

     Where, then, is the road to peace?
5. An underground tunnel in a mine. [from 18th c.]
6. (US, rail transport) A railway or (Britain, rail transport) a single railway track. [from 19th c.]
7. (obsolete) The act of riding on horseback. [9th-17th c.]
8. (obsolete) A hostile ride against a particular area; a raid. [9th-19th c.]
9. (nautical, often in the plural) A partly sheltered area of water near a shore in which vessels may ride at anchor; a roadstead. [from 14th c.]
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act V scene i^[2]:

     Antonio: Sweet lady, you have given me life and living; / For here I read for certain that my ships / Are safely come to road.

   • 1630, John Smith, True Travels, in Kupperman 1988, page 38:

     There delivering their fraught, they went to Scandaroone; rather to view what ships was in the Roade, than any thing else […].

10. (obsolete) A journey, or stage of a journey.
    • c. 1613, William Shakespeare, Henry VIII, Act IV scene ii^[3]:

      At last, with easy roads, he came to Leicester; / Lodg'd in the abbey, where the reverend abbot, / With all his convent, honourably receiv'd him; […]

Usage notes

Often used interchangeably with street or other similar words. When usage is distinguished, a road is a route between settlements (reflecting the etymological relation with ride), as in the Great North Road from London to Edinburgh, while a street is a route within a settlement (city or town), strictly speaking paved.

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:road

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

road (not comparable)

1. (US, Canada, sports, chiefly attributive) At the venue of the opposing team or competitor; on the road.
2. (Britain, Slang) Having attributes, primarily masculine, suggesting a tendency towards minor crime. Usually used by youths endearingly; glorifying crime.

Synonyms

• (at the venue of the opposing team or competitor): away (UK)

Anagrams

• A-Rod, Dora, Rado, orad, orda

Estonian

Noun

road

1. nominative plural of roog

Swedish

Etymology

past participle of roa.

Adjective

road (not comparable)

1. amused, entertained

Declension

Related terms

• lättroad
• oroad

Anagrams

• orda

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?e?s/, [t??e?s]
• Rhymes: -e?s

Etymology 1

From Middle English trace, traas, from Old French trace (“an outline, track, trace”), from the verb (see below).

Noun

trace (countable and uncountable, plural traces)

1. An act of tracing.

2. An enquiry sent out for a missing article, such as a letter or an express package.
3. A mark left as a sign of passage of a person or animal.
4. A residue of some substance or material.

5. A very small amount.

6. (electronics) A current-carrying conductive pathway on a printed circuit board.
7. An informal road or prominent path in an arid area.
8. One of two straps, chains, or ropes of a harness, extending from the collar or breastplate to a whippletree attached to a vehicle or thing to be drawn; a tug.
9. (engineering) A connecting bar or rod, pivoted at each end to the end of another piece, for transmitting motion, especially from one plane to another; specifically, such a piece in an organ stop action to transmit motion from the trundle to the lever actuating the stop slider.
10. (fortification) The ground plan of a work or works.
11. (geometry) The intersection of a plane of projection, or an original plane, with a coordinate plane.
13. (mathematics) The sum of the diagonal elements of a square matrix.
14. (grammar) An empty category occupying a position in the syntactic structure from which something has been moved, used to explain constructions such as wh-movement and the passive.

Synonyms

• (mark left as a sign of passage of a person or animal): track, trail
• (small amount): see also Thesaurus:modicum.

Derived terms

• downtrace, uptrace
• without trace, without a trace

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English tracen, from Old French tracer, trasser (“to delineate, score, trace", also, "to follow, pursue”), probably a conflation of Vulgar Latin *tracti? (“to delineate, score, trace”), from Latin trahere (“to draw”); and Old French traquer (“to chase, hunt, pursue”), from trac (“a track, trace”), from Middle Dutch treck, treke (“a drawing, draft, delineation, feature, expedition”). More at track.

Verb

trace (third-person singular simple present traces, present participle tracing, simple past and past participle traced)

1. (transitive) To follow the trail of.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Cowper to this entry?)

2. To follow the history of.
   • 1684, Thomas Burnet, The Sacred Theory of the Earth

     You may trace the deluge quite round the globe.
3. (transitive) To draw or sketch lightly or with care.

   He carefully traced the outlines of the old building before him.

4. (transitive) To copy onto a sheet of paper superimposed over the original, by drawing over its lines.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To copy; to imitate.
   • 1647, John Denham, To Sir Richard Fanshaw

     That servile path thou nobly dost decline, / Of tracing word by word, and line by line.

6. (intransitive, obsolete) To walk; to go; to travel.
7. (transitive, obsolete) To walk over; to pass through; to traverse.
8. (computing, transitive) To follow the execution of the program by making it to stop after every instruction, or by making it print a message after every step.

Related terms

• tracing

Translations

Anagrams

• Carte, acter, caret, carte, cater, crate, creat, react, recta, reäct

French

Etymology

From the verb tracer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?as/
• Rhymes: -as

Noun

trace f (plural traces)

1. trace
2. track
3. (mathematics) trace

Derived terms

• trace de freinage

Verb

trace

1. first-person singular present indicative of tracer
2. third-person singular present indicative of tracer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of tracer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of tracer
5. second-person singular imperative of tracer

Further reading

• “trace” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• caret, carte, créât, écart, terça

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?tra.t??e/
• Hyphenation: trà?ce

Etymology 1

From Latin thr?cem, accusative form of thr?x, from Ancient Greek ???? (Thrâix).

Adjective

trace (plural traci)

1. (literary) Thracian

Noun

trace m (plural traci)

1. (historical) A person from or an inhabitant of Thrace.

   Synonym: tracio

trace m (uncountable)

1. The Thracian language.

Related terms

• tracio
• Tracia

Etymology 2

From Latin thraecem, accusative form of thraex, from Ancient Greek ???? (Thrâix).

Noun

trace m (plural traci)

1. (historical, Ancient Rome) A gladiator bearing Thracian equipment.

Anagrams

• carte, certa, cetra

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French trace, from tracer, tracier.

Alternative forms

• traas, trase

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?tra?s(?)/

Noun

trace (plural traces) (mostly Late ME)

1. A trail, track or road; a pathway or route:
   1. An track that isn't demarcated; an informal pathway.
   2. A trace; a trail of evidence left of something's presence.
2. One's lifepath or decisions; one's chosen actions.
3. Stepping or movement of feet, especially during dancing.
4. (rare, heraldry) A straight mark.

Derived terms

• tracen
• tracyng

Descendants

• English: trace
• Scots: trace

References

• “tr?ce, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-18.

Etymology 2

Verb

trace

1. Alternative form of tracen

Old French

Etymology

From the verb tracier, tracer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?tra.t?s?/

Noun

trace f (oblique plural traces, nominative singular trace, nominative plural traces)

1. trace (markings showing where one has been)

Descendants

• ? Middle English: trace
  • English: trace
• French: trace

Spanish

Verb

trace

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of trazar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of trazar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of trazar.