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.

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airport ² American  

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

noun

Nautical.

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

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airport British  

/ ˈɛəˌpɔːt /

noun

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

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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

See Examples For:

airport

If planes are unable to land at one airport, for example due to high winds, they may need diverting to another.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

Aircraft are legally required to carry enough fuel to take them to an alternative airport if necessary, and to allow them to fly for an extra 30 minutes on top of that.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

Reports from Germany suggest the men who loaded and launched the drones at Leipzig's airport were Russian, and at least one may have entered the country specially for this job.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

“We are constantly improving flight safety and airport security requirements, and we have solutions for all of this,” Russian transport minister, Andrei Nikitin, said in comments published by the Interfax news agency.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Deplaning in Moscow, we drifted into the main airport, which had all the charm of a warehouse.

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

Related Words

• airfield
• airstrip
• installation
• runway