avenue

Borrowed from French avenue, from Old French avenue, feminine past participle of avenir (“approach”), from Latin adveniō, advenīre (“come to”), from ad (“to”) + veniō, venīre (“come”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæv.əˌnjuː/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈæv.əˌnu/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Hyphenation: av‧e‧nue

avenue (plural avenues)

1. A broad street, especially one bordered by trees.
2. A way or opening for entrance into a place; a passage by which a place may be reached; a way of approach or of exit.
3. The principal walk or approach to a house which is withdrawn from the road, especially, such approach bordered on each side by trees; any broad passageway thus bordered.
   • 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 1, in The Dust of Conflict‎:

     They said nothing further, but tramped on in the growing darkness, past farm steadings, into the little village, through the silent churchyard where generations of the Pallisers lay, and up the beech avenue that led to Northrop Hall.

4. A method or means by which something may be accomplished.

   There are several avenues by which we can approach this problem.

   • 2012 April 18, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Alexis Sanchez hit the crossbar for Barcelona early on and Pedro hit the post in the dying seconds - while Cole cleared off the line from Cesc Fabregas. Goalkeeper Petr Cech also saved well from Messi and Carles Puyol as Pep Guardiola's team tried every avenue in an attempt to break Chelsea down.

5. (urban toponymy) A street, especially, in cities laid out in a grid pattern, one that is in a particular side of the city or that runs in a particular direction.
   • 2009, Carrie Frasure, Arizona Off the Beaten Path®: A Guide to Unique Places, →ISBN, page 111:

     Finding an address east to west is fairly simple . The numbering begins at Central Avenue and moves logically and predictably either west through the avenues or east through the streets, so you know that 2400 East Camelback is at Twenty-Fourth Street or 4300 West Indian School is at Forty-Third Avenue .

   • 2011, Time Out Los Angeles, →ISBN, page 78:

     Boulevards typically (but not exclusively) go east to west; avenues usually run north to south.

   • 2014, Adrienne Onofri, Walking Queens, →ISBN:

     The City of New York implemented a unified street grid in Queens: Numbered avenues run east–west; numbered streets run north–south.

Sometimes used interchangeably with other terms such as street. When distinguished, an avenue is generally broad and tree-lined. Further, in many American cities laid out on a grid, notably Manhattan, streets run east-west, while avenues run north-south.

When abbreviated in an address (such as "Malcolm Ave" or "Fisher Av.") a capital "A" is normally used and a full stop (period) only used if "e" is not the last letter of the abbreviation.

In French traditionally used for routes between two places within a city, named for the destination (or formally where it is coming from), as in the archetypal Avenue des Champs-Élysées. This distinction is not observed in US English, where names such as “Fifth Avenue” are common. In British English, 'Avenue' is usually more associated with a tree-lined street and is often named after the species of tree e.g Acacia Avenue.

• (broad street): drive, boulevard
• (broad street): av., av, ave., ave (abbreviation)

Borrowed from French avenue, from Old French avenue, feminine past participle of avenir (“approach”), from Latin adveniō, advenīre (“come to”), from ad (“to”) + veniō, venīre (“come”).

• IPA^(key): /avəny/, [ævəˈny]

avenue c (singular definite avenuen, plural indefinite avenuer)

1. avenue

From Old French avenue, feminine past participle of avenir (“approach”), from Latin adveniō, advenīre (“come to”), from ad (“to”) + veniō, venīre (“come”).

• IPA^(key): /av.ny/

• Audio

  (file)

avenue f (plural avenues)

1. avenue (broad street, especially bordered with trees)
2. (specifically) a radial avenue (an avenue radiating from a central point, especially bordered with trees)
3. (dated) avenue (principal walk or approach to a house or other building)
4. (figuratively) avenue (means by which something may be accomplished)

• (abbreviation): av., av, ave., ave

avenue

1. feminine singular of avenu

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