corridor

corridor — noun

1. A long, narrow indoor way inside a building or a train, where doors along both s

1.nounB1
Definition

A long, narrow indoor way inside a building or a train, where doors along both sides lead into rooms, offices, or seating compartments.

Example

Sirin walked down the long hospital corridor to reach the children's ward.

movement along a corridor: walk + down + corridor

The train corridor was so narrow that two people could not walk side by side.

train corridor (specific type)

Common collocations
  • long corridor
  • narrow corridor
  • hospital corridor
  • hotel corridor
  • train corridor
  • walk down the corridor
  • at the end of the corridor
  • corridor leading to
  • empty corridor
  • dark corridor
Synonyms
  • hallway

    Chiefly American English; used for the same type of indoor passage in houses and office buildings.

  • passage

    A more general term that can refer to any narrow way through a space, not necessarily with rooms on both sides.

  • passageway

    Slightly more formal than corridor; often used for connecting passages between buildings.

Grammar Patterns

the + corridor

corridor + preposition (along/down/through)

Usage Note

Often used with prepositions showing movement (along, down, through) or position (at the end of, on the corner of). In American English, hallway is a common synonym for this sense.

Common Mistakes

I walked through the aisle to get to Room 201.
I walked down the corridor to get to Room 201.
An aisle is a passage between rows of seats (on a plane or in a theatre), not a passage with rooms on either side.

2. A stretch of territory that belongs to one nation but cuts across another nation

2.nounB2
Definition

A stretch of territory that belongs to one nation but cuts across another nation's land, or a flight path that aircraft must follow when crossing a foreign country's airspace.

Example

The Wakhan Corridor is a narrow strip of land connecting Afghanistan to China.

geographic corridor: named land route between countries

The United Nations established a humanitarian corridor to deliver food to trapped civilians.

humanitarian corridor (aid route collocation)

Common collocations
  • humanitarian corridor
  • air corridor
  • land corridor
  • narrow corridor of land
  • geographic corridor
  • strategic corridor
  • Wakhan Corridor
  • Polish Corridor
Synonyms
  • route

    A more general term for any path from one place to another; corridor specifies a narrow, restricted passage.

  • channel

    Used for sea routes or communication paths; for air routes, 'air corridor' and 'air channel' are sometimes interchangeable.

Grammar Patterns

corridor + of + noun

the + proper noun + Corridor

Usage Note

In news reports, this sense frequently appears in the compounds 'humanitarian corridor' (a safe route for delivering aid) and 'air corridor' (a designated flight path). With geographic place names, 'Corridor' is often capitalised as part of a proper noun (e.g., the Polish Corridor, the Wakhan Corridor).

Common Mistakes

The government built a new corridor between the two cities.
The government built a new highway corridor between the two cities.
For a transportation route within a country, use 'highway corridor' or 'transport corridor'; by itself, 'corridor' suggests a strip through foreign territory.
Idioms

the corridors of power

idiom

The places where people with high authority in government make important decisions.

Min's ideas were discussed in the corridors of power last week.

Have you ever walked through the corridors of power in Washington?

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Corridor, hallway, passage, and aisle all refer to a way through a space, but they differ in setting and formality. A corridor is a long indoor passage with rooms opening onto it — the standard term in hospitals, hotels, offices, and trains. Hallway is the everyday American English equivalent, most common in homes and smaller buildings; in British English, hallway more often means the entrance area of a house. Passage is a more general and slightly more formal word that can describe any connecting way, including one between buildings or through a cave. An aisle is a passage between rows of seats (in a theatre, plane, or church) or between shelves in a supermarket — it does NOT have rooms on either side. For example: 'Noor walked down the hotel corridor to her room' (rooms on both sides), but 'The flight attendant walked down the aisle offering drinks' (seats on both sides).

corridor ↗hallway ↗passage ↗aisle ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • end of the corridor
  • down the corridor
  • corridor of power

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinItalianFrenchEnglish

Corridor entered English in the early 1600s from French, which borrowed it from Italian corridore meaning 'a running place'. The Italian word comes from correre (to run), from Latin currere (to run) — the same root that gives us current, course, and occur. The original sense was a passage in a building meant for moving quickly from one room to another.