A thoroughfare is a main road or public street that people use to get from one place to another. The word emphasizes that the road goes all the way through an area, connecting different parts of a town or city. A busy avenue downtown where buses, cars, and people constantly flow past shops and offices is a thoroughfare. So is a highway that cuts through the countryside, linking one town to the next.

You'll sometimes see signs saying “No Thoroughfare,” which means the road is a dead end or leads only to private property, not a route that continues through to somewhere else.

Not every street qualifies as a thoroughfare. A quiet cul-de-sac where only neighborhood residents drive isn't one. A narrow alley behind some buildings usually isn't either. Thoroughfares are the arteries of a city: the roads where traffic flows steadily because they actually lead somewhere important. When you're giving someone directions, you'll often use thoroughfares as landmarks because they're the roads everyone knows.