airport

airport — noun

1. a large area with runways, terminal buildings, and check-in counters where passe

1.nounA2
Definition

a large area with runways, terminal buildings, and check-in counters where passengers board planes and where flights arrive from other cities or countries.

Example

Linnea arrived at the airport three hours before her flight to Tokyo.

at the airport + time before flight

Heavy snow closed the airport, so hundreds of travellers slept on the floor near the gates.

Common collocations
  • international airport
  • domestic airport
  • regional airport
  • airport terminal
  • airport security
Synonyms
  • airfield

    smaller landing area, often without big terminals or commercial flights

  • airbase

    military version, used by air forces rather than civilian passengers

  • aerodrome

    older British/technical word for any place where planes take off and land

Grammar Patterns

at the airport

to/from the airport

Usage Note

Almost always preceded by 'the' when referring to a specific airport already known from context (the airport / Heathrow Airport). Use 'an airport' only when introducing one for the first time or speaking generally.

Common Mistakes

I will go to airport tomorrow.
I will go to the airport tomorrow.
singular countable nouns need an article.
The plane landed in the airport.
The plane landed at the airport.
use 'at' for a specific location point, not 'in'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These four words all describe places where aircraft take off and land, but they differ in size, purpose, and register. 'Airport' is the everyday word for a large facility serving paying passengers, with terminal buildings, security, and shops — for example, Taoyuan International Airport. 'Airfield' is smaller and simpler, often a single runway used by private pilots, training schools, or small charter flights, and usually has no passenger terminal. 'Airbase' is strictly military: jets, helicopters, and personnel of an air force operate from it, and civilians normally cannot enter. 'Aerodrome' is an older, more technical British term that covers any of the above; you mostly see it on maps, in regulations, or in formal aviation writing rather than in everyday conversation.

airport ↗airfieldairbaseaerodrome

Common collocations

Nouns

  • airport terminal
  • airport security
  • airport lounge
  • airport shuttle
  • airport staff

Phrases

  • pick someone up from the airport
  • drop someone off at the airport
  • be stuck at the airport

Prepositions

  • at the airport
  • to the airport
  • from the airport
  • near the airport

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Formed in early twentieth-century English by joining 'air' (from Old French 'air', from Latin 'aer') with 'port', a word long used in English for a harbour where ships dock (from Latin 'portus' meaning harbour or gate). The new compound first appeared around 1919, when commercial flying began, treating aircraft like ships and the runway-and-terminal site like a sea harbour.