Toll
TOHL
/toʊl/
A fee charged for permission to travel along a particular road, bridge, or tunnel; or the heavy cost/damage suffered from an event.
Literal meaning: fee collected at road gates. Figurative meaning: heavy loss, death count, or psychological tax ('take a toll').
The story behind the word. Evolved from Greek 'telos' (tax or duty) into Medieval Latin 'tolneum' and Old English 'toll'. Bridges and city gates have collected tolls since ancient times to fund maintenance.
Word relationships
- fee: Fee is generic for any payment, whereas toll specifically applies to passage over infrastructure or heavy figurative costs.
- charge: Charge is an umbrella term for prices; toll explicitly relates to roads, bridges, or cumulative strain.
Commonly confused with
- tariff: Tariff is a tax on imported or exported goods, whereas toll is a fee for road usage or passage.
Word family
- tollbooth (noun): A booth at which tolls are collected.
Collocations
- toll booth
- toll road
- take a toll
- toll collector
- toll bridge
Idioms & expressions
- take a toll on
Example sentences
- "Drivers must pay a toll before entering the expressway turnpike." News report
- "Ten hours of nonstop driving took a heavy toll on the driver's energy levels." Figurative context
Memory hook
Pay the TOLL when you GO TO ALL highway plazas. Fee paid to cross.
When not to use
Do not use for general retail prices or bus fares.
Fun facts
- Electronic toll collection systems like E-ZPass use radio-frequency identification (RFID) to charge moving vehicles automatically.
Related words
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