RAIL | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of rail in English railnoun uk /reɪl/ us /reɪl/

rail noun (TRAINS)

Add to word list Add to word list B1 [ U ] the system of transport that uses trains: Environmentalists argue that more goods should be transported by rail. [ C ] one of the two metal bars attached to the ground on which trains travel: A train left/went off the rails and crashed into the bank, killing several passengers.   Felix Kayser/EyeEm/GettyImages

• An inquiry was ordered into the recent rail disaster.
• Government sources estimate a long-term 50% increase in rail fares.
• The rail system is to put 20 million pounds into its modernization programme.
• The question is whether road transit is cheaper than rail.
• The resort is easily accessible by road, rail and air.

Railways & railway lines

• aerial tram
• aerial tramway
• Amtrak
• ballast
• elevated railroad
• elevated train
• mainline
• metro
• narrow-gauge
• railway
• RR
• short-line railroad
• short-line railway
• sidetrack
• signal
• signal tower
• sleeper
• tramcar
• turntable
• underground

See more results »

rail noun (BAR)

C2 [ C ] a horizontal bar fixed in position, especially to a wall or to vertical posts, used to close something off, as a support, or to hang things on: Will spectators please stay behind the rail? Hold onto the rail so that you don't fall. The (clothes) rail in her wardrobe was crammed full of dresses.   Jon Boyes/GettyImages

• The bathroom has a heated towel rail.
• I watched an old woman pull herself up the stairs, holding on to a rail.
• They leaned over the rails and peered down into the dizzying chasm below.
• The rails were full of expensive clothes.
• We have a heated towel rail in our bathroom.

Parts of buildings: fences & rails

• balustrade
• banister
• bannister
• barbed wire
• barricade
• crush barrier
• fence
• fence something in phrasal verb
• fence something off phrasal verb
• fencing
• finial
• guard rail
• handrail
• hoarding
• Jersey barrier
• paling
• palisade
• sandbag
• shark fence
• windbreak

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Idioms

go off the rails keep someone on the rails keep something on the rails stay on the rails railverb [ I + prep ]   formal uk /reɪl/ us /reɪl/ to complain angrily: He railed against/at the injustices of the system. Synonyms attack (CRITICIZE) castigate formal censure formal chastise (CRITICIZE) formal condemn criticize damn (BLAME) decry formal denounce (CRITICIZE) excoriate formal revile formal slam informal Complaining

• be/go on at someone idiom
• bellyaching
• bemoan
• bewail
• brouhaha
• bugger, sod, etc. this for a lark! idiom
• carping
• clamour
• grizzle
• jaw
• make noises idiom
• mutter
• nag
• pardon
• remonstrate
• representation
• start on at someone phrasal verb
• teeth gnashing
• unreported
• whiner

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Phrasal verb

rail something off (Definition of rail from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

rail | American Dictionary

railnoun us /reɪl/

rail noun (TRAINS)

Add to word list Add to word list [ C/U ] one of the two metal bars fixed to the ground on which trains travel [ C/U ] Rail also means railroad: [ U ] rail transportation [ U ] Commuter rail and subway lines will be linked.

rail noun (ROD)

[ C ] a straight bar or rod fixed in position, esp. to a wall or to vertical posts, used to enclose something or as a support: The car swerved out of control and crashed through a guard rail on the bridge. railverb [ I always + adv/prep ] us /reɪl/

rail verb [I always + adv/prep] (COMPLAIN)

to complain angrily: He railed against the injustices of the system. (Definition of rail from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

rail | Business English

railnoun [ U ]   TRANSPORT uk /reɪl/ us Add to word list Add to word list transport or travel by train: by rail Brazil transports 30% of its goods by rail. We need more investment in road and rail. Rail travel accounts for less than 1% of the trips we make annually. Road and rail links to the airport are good. (Definition of rail from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Collocations with rail

rail

These are words often used in combination with rail.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

metro railIt costs 1520 million per kilometre for a commuter rail system, while metro rail would cost 2.50 billion and monorail 1.75 billion per km. From Wikipedia This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.   rail depotI believe that it is right that there is a rail depot per 600 factories in this country as things are at the moment. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0   rail enthusiastThe railway is run entirely by volunteers with many young rail enthusiasts involved with its operation. From Wikipedia This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.   These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. See all collocations with rail What is the pronunciation of rail?

Translations of rail

in Chinese (Traditional) 列車, 鐵路交通, 鐵路交通系統… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 列车, 铁路交通, 铁路交通系统… See more in Spanish ferrocarril, riel, barra… See more in Portuguese trem, trilho, corrimão [masculine]… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Tamil in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Telugu in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian लोहमार्ग, रूळ, कठडा… See more 鉄道, （物をかける）レール, 横木… See more askılık, ...asacağı, trabzan… See more garde-fou [masculine], rambarde [feminine], rail [masculine]… See more ferrocarril, barra… See more stang, rek, rail… See more ரயில்களைப் பயன்படுத்தும் போக்குவரத்து அமைப்பு, ரயில்கள் பயணிக்கும் தரையில் இணைக்கப்பட்ட இரண்டு உலோக கம்பிகளில் ஒன்று, ஒரு கிடைமட்ட பட்டை நிலையில் சரி செய்யப்பட்டது… See more रेल, ट्रेनों का इस्तेमाल करने वाली परिवहन प्रणाली, (रेल की) पटरी… See more રેલગાડી, પાટો, કઠેડો… See more stang, -stang, skinne… See more stång, räcke, skena… See more palang gantungan, landasan, menghalang… See more das Geländer, die Stange, die Schiene… See more gelender [neuter], jernbanetransport [masculine], skinne [masculine]… See more ریل گاڑی کا نظام, ریل کی پٹری, باڑ… See more поруччя, перила, залізнична колія… See more రైళ్లను ఉపయోగించే రవాణా వ్యవస్థ, రైలు పట్టా/ రైళ్లు ప్రయాణించే నేలకు జోడించిన రెండు లోహపు కడ్డీలలో ఒకటి, ఒక సమాంతర పట్టీ దాని స్థానంలో… See more রেল, মাটিতে পাতা রেললাইন, রড… See more zábradlí, držák, kolejnice… See more jeruji, rel, memagari… See more ราว, รางรถไฟ, ใส่ราว… See more tay vịn, thanh ray, rào lại… See more drążek, balustrada, poręcz… See more 기차, 철도, 레일… See more ferrovia, barra, bastone/bacchetta da tende… See more Need a translator?

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raid raided raider raiding rail rail car rail consignment note rail freight rail link {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

More meanings of rail

• picture rail
• third rail
• rail car
• dado rail
• grab rail
• live rail
• rail link

See all meanings

• rail something off phrasal verb

See all phrasal verb meanings

• be as thin as a rail phrase
• run someone out of town (on a rail) idiom
• be as thin as a rail, at be as thin as a rake phrase

See all idioms and phrases

Word of the Day

in all modesty

said when you want to say something good about yourself, but do not want to seem to think you are too important

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• English   
  • Noun 
    • rail (TRAINS)
    • rail (BAR)
  Verb
• American   
  • Noun 
    • rail (TRAINS)
    • rail (ROD)
  • Verb 
    • rail (COMPLAIN)
• Business   Noun
• Collocations

• Translations
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