Did you know?
Inroad is a combination of in and road, both of which are pretty mundane, as far as words go. But the first-and-oldest-meaning of inroad hints at a meaning of road other than the "way for traveling" one. Beginning back in the days of Old English, road referred to an armed hostile incursion made on horseback. (Raid comes from this use of road and also formerly specified incursions on horseback.) Road, as well as inroad, has lost its violent connotation. While inroads are often made at the expense of someone or something, they are at times simply advances, as when an artist is said to be "making inroads into a community."
Examples of inroad in a Sentence
Ed Garsten, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu | Getty Images American Airlines plans to outfit more than 500 of its narrow-body aircraft with Starlink, handing another win to Elon Musk's SpaceX unit that has made inroads with major carriers for in-flight Wi-Fi.
—Leslie Josephs, CNBC, 26 May 2026
Trump made inroads with Latino voters like Ramirez during the 2024 elections, earning support that helped propel him to a second term in the White House.
—Rebecca Santana, Chicago Tribune, 22 May 2026
Villa looked to be struggling to make inroads against their German opponents right up until the 41st minute, when Youri Tielemans emphatically opened the floodgates, drifting into space from a corner kick and before superbly volleying home from Morgan Rogers’ floated cross.
—Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 20 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for inroad
Cite this Entry
“Inroad.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inroad. Accessed 3 Jun. 2026.
Copy Citation
