Roadmap

How to spell roadmap

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce roadmap

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does roadmap mean?

1. nounA detailed plan or guide showing the stages and steps toward achieving a goal.
2. nounA map showing the roads of a particular area, used for driving and navigation.

Roadmap in a sentence

• The board approved a five-year roadmap for expanding the company.

• Before satnav, every glovebox held a folded roadmap of the region.

• The manual offers a clear roadmap for setting up the software.

• She spread the roadmap across the bonnet to trace the route.

Where does roadmap come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent English compound, joining 'road' and 'map', both of which have deep roots in the language. 'Road' descends from Old English 'rad', which originally meant a journey on horseback or a riding expedition, related to the verb 'ride'; only later did it settle into meaning the prepared way along which one travels. 'Map' arrived later, in the 1500s, from the Latin 'mappa mundi', literally a 'sheet (or napkin) of the world', since 'mappa' meant a cloth or napkin on which a chart might be drawn. The literal compound, a printed chart of roads for drivers, became common in the early twentieth century. The figurative sense, a detailed plan showing the stages toward a goal, took hold in business and politics during the late twentieth century and is now arguably the more common use.

How the word is built

• road (a route or way)
• map (a representation of an area)