Home UK English railroad

Meaning of railroad in English:

railroad

Pronunciation /ˈreɪlrəʊd/

Translate railroad into Spanish

noun

North American

  • 1A track or set of tracks made of steel rails along which passenger and freight trains run; a railway.

    ‘his uncle works on the railroad’
    • ‘railroad tracks’

  • 2A system of tracks with the trains, organization, and personnel required for its working.

    • ‘the Union Pacific Railroad’

verb

  • 1informal with object Rush or coerce (someone) into doing something.

    • ‘she hesitated, unwilling to be railroaded into a decision’
    • ‘I was railroaded into a way of making music I wouldn't have gone for.’
    • ‘We won't be railroaded into a decision, you know.’
    • ‘Instead of taking the lead in tackling the problem, once again they are being railroaded into joining a ‘global coalition’.’
    • ‘We have a young parliament, and we hardly need to be railroaded into a supposedly ‘voluntary’ scheme.’
    • ‘Jason didn't like being railroaded into anything, but he did feel sorry for Janice.’
    • ‘Club coaches said they had been railroaded into taking late night slots and wanted the Friday night session to be an hour earlier.’
    • ‘From early on, therefore, the developing countries worried they would be railroaded into a last-minute deal.’
    • ‘‘I sometimes feel I'm getting railroaded into a poor deal,’ he explains.’
    • ‘The operators were railroaded into agreeing to the move, and no one bothered to ask the people who actually pay to use the deckchairs: The tourists who go to the beach to relax.’
    • ‘She had been railroaded into the job, under the supervision of a widely reviled manager, because no one inside the company would take it.’
    • ‘But neither she nor her three sisters, who are 12, 19 and 23, were railroaded into sport.’
    • ‘Customers often allow themselves to be railroaded into making bad decisions by a salesperson's use of false dilemma.’
    • ‘My mother railroaded me into netball and hockey but I didn't know the rules, and I tripped over a lot.’
    • ‘Her success seems to have railroaded her husband into a supporting role.’
    • ‘Speaking after the London meeting, he denied he was trying to railroad families into accepting compensation rather than taking the lawsuit option.’
    • ‘Their policies are attempting to railroad people into urban settlements by objecting to planning applications in rural areas.’
    • ‘Zack was reluctant and frowning, but I exercised fatherly priviledge and basically railroaded him into the trip.’
    • ‘We felt railroaded into it, and we're seething.’
    • ‘They took no notice of the opposition and just railroaded people into this.’
    • ‘Instead of giving the player real choices, the game gives players the appearance of choice, but really just railroads them down the same path as everyone else.’
    coerce, force, compel, pressure, pressurize, badger, hustle, pester, hound, harass, nag, harry, urge, goad, prod, spur
    1. 1.1Cause (a measure) to be passed or approved quickly by applying pressure.
      • ‘the Bill had been railroaded through the House’
      • ‘Another chilling measure was railroaded through federal parliament this week without any noticeable media coverage.’
      • ‘This was railroaded through so fast most local governments didn't even know about it.’
      • ‘For that reason, they're too important to be railroaded through Congress.’
      • ‘The fact is that the decision was railroaded through after normal business and residents were given minimal notice of the street closure.’
      • ‘They feel the plans were railroaded through the district council and they have addressed their concerns to the Local Government Ombudsman.’
      • ‘What are the contentious issues in those suggestions and are you worried the regulations may be railroaded through?’
      • ‘In this kind of climate, political decisions that should be the subject of public debate, such as extra powers for the police, can be railroaded through because dissent is not allowed.’
      • ‘This whole process has been railroaded through and we are seeking a fair and reasonable industrial solution in the interests of the public and firefighters.’
      • ‘The government wants to railroad Agenda for Change through.’
      • ‘The Conservatives railroaded through their market-led reforms, imposing the number-crunchers on hospitals to find out, for the first time, what healthcare really cost.’
      • ‘He said: ‘Ten people who don't know the town will decide the future of that site. The way things get railroaded through district is unbelievable.’’
      • ‘‘It was the best decision,’ Amien later replied when asked by journalist about the compromise he railroaded through.’
      • ‘What he has failed to grasp is that because he stole all the past elections, he has invalidated any laws that he has railroaded through his parliament.’
      • ‘The Stennis compromise - no compromise in his mind - was being railroaded through.’
      • ‘They planned to railroad it through with less than ten weeks from announcement to agreement.’
      • ‘He is a member of the major opposition Nationalist Party, which railroaded the nuclear power project while still Taiwan's ruling party.’
      • ‘At the same time, the new voting system will be instrumental in preventing the speaker from railroading contentious bills in a unilateral manner.’
      • ‘He claimed the developer was railroading the development of the site and the manager's enforcement order was being ignored.’
      • ‘There is never any harm in debating such issues, but this is not about debate, it is about railroading things through,’ he said.’
      pressurize, pressure, lean on, press, goad, prod, bulldoze, browbeat, brainwash, dragoon, strong-arm
    2. 1.2North American Send (someone) to prison without a fair trial.
      • ‘they know I was railroaded and falsely accused’
      • ‘Criminal cops ride roughshod over prosecutors and juries and railroad people into prison or worse.’
      • ‘Prosecutors and court judges routinely promoted and rewarded police misconduct, as hundreds of innocent persons were railroaded and tossed into prison.’
      • ‘In the end, while one can reasonably argue that Arnold got what he deserved, the indications are that Jesse was railroaded and ended up serving time for a crime he did not commit.’
      • ‘It is a testament to the jury that they refused to be part of the attempt to railroad innocent men to jail.’
      • ‘The country had plenty of experience with its rulers using puppet prosecutors and judges to railroad so-called enemies of the state into prison or worse.’
      • ‘Editors may be more skeptical of authority today, but they do not all believe the Harlem boys were railroaded by a frenzied press and a zealous prosecution.’
      • ‘He was railroaded into a Mexican prison.’
      • ‘The kinds of things endured by the characters in this film would have been minor irritants to the man, who was railroaded and falsely convicted of a murder because of his race.’
      • ‘The former member of the Black Panther Party and a radio journalist was railroaded to prison 18 years ago on charges that he murdered a Philadelphia policeman.’
      • ‘The novel is about an innocent white man on death row, railroaded because officials needed to prove that the death penalty isn't racially biased.’
      • ‘I knew he was innocent, and I had a unique perspective, where I saw the way in which he had gotten railroaded and convicted.’
      • ‘This might have been a convenient time for Specter to mention his real concern that the only person arrested in this grandest of grand larcenies was an innocent man being railroaded because of his race.’
      • ‘I have since viewed the two documentaries and am convinced these poor kids were railroaded.’
      • ‘When good men were railroaded without a shred of due process, who was speaking up?’
      • ‘If somebody tries to railroad me, I'm going at them.’
      • ‘He presided over a criminal courtroom where, as in most such courtrooms in Los Angeles, defendants were railroaded by false testimony by cops.’
      • ‘They set about to swiftly close the case and make an example of the alleged perpetrators, who were quickly railroaded to prison.’
      • ‘It details conditions where suspects - who are overwhelmingly poor and minority - lack adequate access to counsel and are frequently railroaded to death row with little or no substantiating evidence.’
      • ‘Thomas, who did not testify, contended that he fled because he feared he would be railroaded - or shot - by police after he was identified as a suspect.’
      • ‘It's also clear to me that he's been railroaded.’