What does headway mean?
Headway means forward progress, especially progress made in work, a project, or a difficult undertaking. People say that someone or something is making headway when obstacles are being overcome and meaningful progress is occurring. The expression 'make headway' is particularly common: a team may make headway on a complex investigation, while a company may gain or lose headway in a competitive market. Headway can also refer to the distance or time interval between successive moving vehicles, as in the headway between trains or buses. The word is useful because it describes not merely activity but measurable forward movement. In its everyday sense, it suggests steady advancement rather than a sudden success, and it is often used where progress is difficult but beginning to happen.
nounForward progress or advancement, especially in a person's work, an undertaking, or a process. In transport contexts, it can also mean the distance or interval between successive moving vehicles.
- Forward progress or advancement in an activity, process, or undertaking.
- The distance or interval separating one moving vehicle or object from another, especially successive trains.
"Despite several delays, the research team finally began to make headway on the project."
"Despite several delays, the research team finally began to make headway on the project."
"The train service operates with a headway of ten minutes between services."
The plural form is standard but uncommon; in the usual sense of forward progress, headway is normally uncountable.
"The company recorded several small headways in its expansion into new markets."
Headway points the way forward: it literally combines the leading part with the path ahead.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does headway come from?
Headway is an English compound formed from head and way, combining the idea of the leading part with movement or direction. Its early development was associated with forward movement and progress, and the modern general sense gradually became the word's dominant use. The spacing sense developed in more specialized contexts, especially transport, where the term describes the interval between successive vehicles.
How headway is actually used
In its sense of progress, headway is usually an uncountable noun, and 'make headway' is especially idiomatic. The sense referring to spacing between moving vehicles is chiefly used in transport and traffic contexts.
Easily confused with headway
Headway means forward progress, whereas a headwind is a wind blowing directly against the direction of travel.