tarmac
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tarmac
- /ˈtɑː(ɹ)mæk/
Where it comes from
Clipping of tarmacadam, which is from tar + macadam (“crushed stones”). Originally a trademark owned by its inventor, Edgar Hooley.
noun tarmacs
- Tarmacadam.
-
Any bituminous road surfacing material.
How meek and shrunken did that haughty Tarmac become as it slunk by the wide circle of asphalt of the yellow sort, that was loosely strewn before the great iron gates of Lady Hall as a forerunner of the consideration that awaited the guests of Rupert, Earl of Kare, […].
Similar: asphalt
- The driveable surface of a road.
- The area of an airport, other than the runway, where planes park or maneuver. As he walked across the tarmac in the bitter January wind he saw his own name going over the network: BOND, JAMES. BRITISH DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT 0094567, the short wait and the replies coming back on the different machines: NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE. And then, from the FBI: POSITIVE AWAIT CHECK.
verb tarmacs · tarmacking · tarmacing · tarmaccing · tarmacked
- To pave with tarmacadam or a similar material. To your left is a green lane, partly tarmacked with chippings, which leads up to a little car-parking area.
- To spend time idling on a runway, usually waiting for takeoff clearance. "It is not unusual these days for the time spent tarmacking to exceed the time spent in the air, " said Senator John Danforth, R-Mo.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: paved, macadamize, macadam, tarmacadam, asphalt, macadamized, pavement, ramp, runway, airstrip, track, apron, lead, piste, race, trail
Translations
Every language
Talk about this word "tarmac." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/tarmac. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. tarmac. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/tarmac "tarmac." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/tarmac.Cite this
@misc{tarmac_2026,
title = {tarmac},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/tarmac},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
