Does calling a road 'wavy' convey its shape clearly?

There is a scene in which the road the car is on is straight at first, but later starts to wave about. By 'wave', I mean its shaped like this:

enter image description here

Now my question is, if I write, "the road ahead started to wave a little bit," does it convey clearly the shape of the road? If not, what could be some other ways I can structure the sentence or should I, perhaps, use a different word altogether? Thanks.


A single bend in a road is, well, a bend or a curve. Multiple curves back and forth is a winding road. Wavy would imply it's moving somehow. The first example that comes to mind is in Tolkien, and of a stair/path. Here he describes it as snaking to and fro. This isn't a bad way to describe it if you want a darker or more ominous tone.

The Winding Stair did not delve into the mountains of the Ephel Dúath; instead the cliff-face sloped back and the stairway snaked to and from across it. At one point one of the turns overlooked the vast ravine at the head of Morgul Valley.

EDIT: Here's another example, one of many you can find with a Project Guttenberg search. This is from the opening of A Lady's Tour in Corsica:

The road is less interesting than usual in Corsica, and, for some distance, is almost tame, winding amongst low green hills, and by the side of a foaming river swept by willows.

There are no results for "wavy road" in project guttenberg, and a google news search shows results that are puns (kanye west waving... a long and wavy road), usage by what appear to be non-native speakers, or roads that look like the images @computercarguy posted below:

enter image description here


I would avoid "wave" and associated words - they will mean different things to different people. Did it move up and down like the sea (probably not) or did it raise a hand in greeting or farewell (I'm guessing it didn't). Silly examples maybe, but without your illustration I wouldn't have been sure what was meant.

Words like bend, curve, twist, turn would probably serve better, but if you're looking to convey the idea that the road really was like the symbol, you could play with that :

The previously straight road started to twist into a parody of the sign for dangerous curves.

You could also work in words like "tortuous" or "convoluted", but that will depend on whether they fit the type of story and its target audience.

I would have a bit of fun coming up with different ways to describe it, and see which one looked like it worked best.