A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots of buildings.
Used in a Sentence
alley
Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for alley.
Editorial note
If it's on Github, find an issue that seems up your alley and check the commits against it.
Examples17
Definitions4
Parts of speech1
Quick take
A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots of buildings.
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of alley gathered in one view.
A walk or passage in a garden or park, bordered by rows of trees or bushes.
A passageway between rows of pews in a church.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for alley.
noun
A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots of buildings.
See also: alleyway, back-street, bowling-alley, skittle-alley
noun
A walk or passage in a garden or park, bordered by rows of trees or bushes.
See also: alleyway, back-street, bowling-alley, skittle-alley
noun
A passageway between rows of pews in a church.
See also: alleyway, back-street, bowling-alley, skittle-alley
noun
The space between two rows of compositors' stands in a printing office.
See also: alleyway, back-street, bowling-alley, skittle-alley
Example sentences
If it's on Github, find an issue that seems up your alley and check the commits against it.
The canonical example is to try to measure the position of pins in a bowling alley using a bowling ball.
It was lead down a blind alley by ideologues and has yet to recover.
The other day, I was coming out of an alley, turning right on to a one way street.
It is a bit like looking for your lost car keys under the lamppost even though you lost them down the alley.
Sounds like it might be right up my alley, will give it a shot.
Here's one such video [3] A small hand-built computer on breadboards you can walk into would seem to be right up their alley.
However, walking down a quiet alley with no cars (audible or visible) has to me nearly the same meditative effect as walking in nature.
Native midwesterners (I grew up in central Illinois, in a nasty tornado alley) take tornadoes seriously.
The common 'ECA' stack might be right up your alley.
I didn't know about it until now but it looks right up my alley.
Interpretation: Obviously don't walk down a dark alley alone.
Quote examples
Similar if you live in tornado alley in the US you can't shrug and say "nobody can predict a tornado".
Check out Jakki Mohr's book "Marketing of High-technology Products and Innovations", she expands on Moore's book and gives several strategies for expanding your market (some of them are Moore's, like the Bowling Alley/Bowling Pin).
Their installation instructions are "take it out of the box, set it up somewhere in a central area and you're good to go." Well not really - these beacons are going to end up in weird places, giving people "Place Tips" when they're walking down an alley, or live upstairs from a restaurant with a FB beacon.
Proper noun examples
I'm surprised they can get away with this sort of building in Tornado Alley.
Silicon Alley, Silicon Savannah, Silicon Valley, Silicon Prarie, Silicon Forest, Silicon what-have-you.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use alley in a sentence?
If it's on Github, find an issue that seems up your alley and check the commits against it.
What does alley mean?
A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots of buildings.
What part of speech is alley?
alley is commonly used as noun.