• (British, GA) enPR: wā, IPA: /weɪ/

way (plural ways)

1. (heading) To do with a place or places.
   1. A road, a direction, a (physical or conceptual) path from one place to another.

      Do you know the way to the airport?  Come this way and I'll show you a shortcut.  It's a long way from here.

      • 1667, John Milton, “Book 2”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

        The way seems difficult, and steep to scale.

      • The season and ways were very improper for his majesty's forces to march so great a distance.

   2. A means to enter or leave a place.

      We got into the cinema through the back way.

   3. A roughly-defined geographical area.

      If you're ever 'round this way, come over and visit me.

2. A method or manner of doing something; a mannerism.

   You're going about it the wrong way.  He's known for his quirky ways.  I don't like the way she looks at me.

3. A state or condition

   When I returned home, I found my house and belongings in a most terrible way.

4. (heading) Personal interaction.
   1. Possibility (usually in the phrases 'any way' and 'no way').

      There's no way I'm going to clean up after you.

   2. Determined course; resolved mode of action or conduct.

      My little sister always whines until she gets her way.

5. (paganism) A tradition within the modern pagan faith of Heathenry, dedication to a specific deity or craft, Way of wyrd, Way of runes, Way of Thor etc.
6. (nautical) Speed, progress, momentum.
   • 1977, Richard O'Kane, Clear the Bridge: The War Patrols of the U.S.S. Tang, Ballantine Books (2003), p.343:

     Ten minutes into the run Tang slowed, Welch calling out her speed as she lost way.

7. A degree, an amount, a sense.

   In a large way, crocodiles and alligators are similar.

8. (US, As the head of an interjectory clause, followed by an infinitive starting with “to”) Acknowledges that a task has been done well, chiefly in expressions of sarcastic congratulation.

   Way to ruin the moment, guys.

9. (plural only) The timbers of shipyard stocks that slope into the water and along which a ship or large boat is launched.
10. (plural only) The longitudinal guiding surfaces on the bed of a planer, lathe, etc. along which a table or carriage moves.

• See also Thesaurus:way

• French: voie, chemin
• German: Weg
• Italian: via
• Portuguese: caminho, via
• Russian: путь
• Spanish: camino, vía

• French: moyen
• Italian: mezzo
• Portuguese: caminho, meio
• Russian: путь
• Spanish: medios

• Portuguese: caminho

• French: manière, façon, moyen
• German: Weise, Art, Methode
• Italian: maniera, modo
• Portuguese: jeito, maneira, modo
• Russian: спо́соб
• Spanish: manera, modo, forma

• Portuguese: jeito

• Portuguese: jeito

• Portuguese: caminho

• Portuguese: jeito

1. (only in reply to no way) yes; it is true; it is possible

• yes way

way (ways, present participle waying; past and past participle wayed)

1. (obsolete) To travel.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.ii:

     on a time as they together way'd, / He made him open chalenge [...].

way (not comparable)

1. (informal, with comparative or modified adjective) Much.

   I'm way too tired to do that.

   I'm a way better singer than Emma.

   • 2006, Keyboard, Volume 32, Issues 1-6, page 132 ↗,

     It turns out that's way more gain than you need for a keyboard, but you don't have to use all of it to benefit from the sonic characteristics.

2. (slang, with positive adjective) Very.

   I'm way tired

   String theory is way cool, except for the math.

   • 2005, Erika V. Shearin Karres, Crushes, Flirts, & Friends: A Real Girl's Guide to Boy Smarts, page 16 ↗,

     With all the way cool boys out there, what if you don't recognize them because you don't know what to look for? Or, what if you have a chance to pick a perfect Prince and you end up with a yucky Frog instead?

3. (informal) Far.

   I used to live way over there.

   The farmhouse is way down the bottom of the hill.

• (much) far, much, loads
• (very) so, very, so much

way (plural ways)

1. The letter for the w sound in Pitman shorthand.

• double-u, the name of the Latin letter for this sound

1. (Christianity, with the definite article) Christianity.
   • 1946, The Bible, Revised Standard Version, Acts 9:1–2

     But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

2. (Chinese philosophy, with the definite article) Synonym of Tao#English|Tao: the way of nature and/or the ideal way in which to live one's life.
3. (Sussex, with the definite article) Clipping of South Downs Way.

   We're walking along the Way now.

1. Surname