high road

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhaɪ ɹəʊd/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhaɪ ˌɹoʊd/

• Audio (General Australian):

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high road (plural high roads)

1. (idiomatic) A course of action which is dignified, honourable, or respectable.
   • 1982 November 22, Thomas Griffith, “A Tilt Called Cynicism”, in Time:

     The high road of public service and the low road of political advantage seem inextricably intertwined.

2. (chiefly British) A main road or highway.
   • Nov. 1, 1878, Rev. Miles Greenwood, “North China”, in The Mission Field‎, number 275, page 544:

     On Wednesday, the 27th, we arrived at a place called Tʻien-chin. Here we were not on the high road to Pekin, hence the excitement created by our arrival was greater than I had ever before witnessed.

   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 6, in The Black Arrow:

     There, a few yards before them, was the high road from Risingham to Shoreby, lying, at this point, between two even walls of forest.

   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     The highroad on the other side was frequented by few, for a nearer-hand way to the west had been made through the lower Moss.

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see high,‎ road.

• (main road or highway): highroad

• do the right thing
• high street
• low road
• moral high ground

• “high road”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.