pathway

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pathway

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From Middle English pathwei, equivalent to path +‎ way. Cognate with German Pfadweg, Afrikaans padweg.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑːθˌweɪ/
• (US, Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈpæθˌweɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

pathway (plural pathways)

1. A footpath or other path or track.

   Hyponyms: cowpath, desire path, footpath; more

   follow the pathway

   go down the pathway

   on the pathway

   • 1900 May 17, L Frank Baum, “The Winged Monkeys”, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo M Hill Co., →OCLC, page 167:

     YOU WILL REMEMBER there was no road—not even a pathway—between the castle of the Wicked Witch and the Emerald City.

2. (biochemistry) A sequence of biochemical compounds, and the reactions linking them, that describe a process in metabolism or catabolism.
   • 2015 September 15, “Assessing the Metabolic Diversity of Streptococcus from a Protein Domain Point of View”, in PLOS ONE‎, →DOI:

     On the other hand, it can be observed that, with small exceptions, the S. pneumonia strains are the only Streptococci equipped with homospermidine biosynthesis and pyruvate oxidation pathways, which have been found to be involved in pathogenicity mechanisms [50 ] and in the counteraction of oxidative stress [51 ].

3. (figurative) A course of action.

   the pathway to success

   • 2000, Amitabh Prakash, Acute Stroke Treatment, page 102:

     Similarly, although both clinical pathway and case management programmes seek to improve system efficiency, critical pathways concentrate on high-volume conditions with high costs in which care is generally patternable […]

• Joe Miller (2018 January 24) “Davos jargon: A crime against the English language?”, in BBC News‎, BBC