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Showing results for airport. Search instead for air port.
Synonyms

airport

1 American  
[air-pawrt, -pohrt] / ˈɛərˌpɔrt, -ˌpoʊrt /

noun

  1. a tract of land or water with facilities for the landing, takeoff, shelter, supply, and repair of aircraft, especially one used for receiving or discharging passengers and cargo at regularly scheduled times.

airport 2 American  
[air-pawrt, -pohrt] / ˈɛərˌpɔrt, -ˌpoʊrt /

noun

Nautical.

  1. a porthole designed to be opened to the outside air.

airport British  
/ ˈɛəˌpɔːt /

noun

  1. a landing and taking-off area for civil aircraft, usually with surfaced runways and aircraft maintenance and passenger facilities

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of airport1

1915–20; air 1 + port 1, on the model of seaport

Origin of airport2

First recorded in 1780–90; air 1 + port 4

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Given the short time period, we were not able to intervene and prevent this person from reaching the runway,” airport Chief Executive Officer Phillip Washington said at the news conference Tuesday.

From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026

Air Force installations in Germany through the early 1990s, is now a civilian airport.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026

Nonetheless, ensuring complete security of the 53 square mile airport, the second largest by landmass in the the world, is a challenging task, he acknowledged.

From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026

A privatized, market-driven airport system would encourage existing airports to compete for more airline service and would lead to new private commercial airports.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026

After an errand downtown we reached the airport.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.