corridor

American  

[kawr-i-der, -dawr, kor-] / ˈkɔr ɪ dər, -ˌdɔr, ˈkɒr- /

noun

• corridors
  plural

1. a gallery or passage connecting parts of a building; hallway.

2. a passage into which several rooms or apartments open.

3. a passageway in a passenger ship or railroad car permitting access to separate cabins or compartments.

4. a narrow tract of land forming a passageway, as one connecting two major cities or one belonging to an inland country and affording an outlet to the sea.

   the Polish Corridor.

5. a usually densely populated region characterized by one or more well-traveled routes used by railroad, airline, or other carriers.

   The Northeast corridor extends from Washington, D.C., to Boston.

6. Also called air corridor. Aeronautics. a restricted path along which an aircraft must travel to avoid hostile action, other air traffic, etc.

7. Aerospace. a carefully calculated path through the atmosphere along which a space vehicle must travel after launch or during reentry in order to attain a desired orbit, to avoid severe acceleration and deceleration, or to minimize aerodynamic heating.

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corridor British  

/ ˈkɒrɪˌdɔː /

noun

1. a hallway or passage connecting parts of a building

2. a strip of land or airspace along the route of a road or river

   the M1 corridor

3. a strip of land or airspace that affords access, either from a landlocked country to the sea (such as the Polish corridor , 1919-39, which divided Germany) or from a state to an exclave (such as the Berlin corridor , 1945–90, which passed through the former East Germany)

4. a passageway connecting the compartments of a railway coach

5. the higher echelons of government, the Civil Service, etc, considered as the location of power and influence

6. a flight path that affords safe access for intruding aircraft

7. the path that a spacecraft must follow when re-entering the atmosphere, above which lift is insufficient and below which heating effects are excessive

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• precorridor
  noun
• corridored
  adjective
• uncorridored
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• corridors
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of corridor

First recorded in 1585–95; from Middle French, from Upper Italian corridore (Tuscan corridoio ), equivalent to corr(ere) “to run,” (from Latin currere ) + -idore, from Latin -i- + -tōrium noun suffix; see -i-, -tory ²

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Explanation

A long hallway, especially one that has rooms opening up into it, is called a corridor. Late at night, hotel corridors all look alike. Be sure you try to open the right door with your key card. A corridor is also a tract of land that connects two places or runs along the side of a road. In your town, the business corridor might be a fairly small strip of land with just a couple of restaurants and a few stores. The Northeast Corridor is the built-up area that links eastern cities in a chain that stretches from Boston to Washington, D.C.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

corridor corridors

A top-floor apartment was set up at the hospital, accessed by a long corridor guarded by Italian and Vatican police.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

Most flights between Europe and Asia are now using a narrow, crowded corridor through Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

“It’s in such a sensitive area that there are these multiple state agencies that have jurisdiction to protect the public resources through which this rail corridor passes.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

Images circulating on social media appear to show heavily loaded military trucks carrying uniformed personnel towards Adigrat, Edaga Hamus and possibly Wukro, another key town along the corridor between Adigrat and Mekelle.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

Behind us, the corridor stretches out into darkness and silence.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

I traipsed down corridors full of smart young people tapping away at their computers, seemingly doing things.

From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026

Geological evidence and plant fossils show that the Triassic landscape of Kariba was dry and dotted with stands of large conifer trees, with green corridors of vegetation following permanent watercourses.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

Other major Saudi airports have also been hit, all but cementing the collapse of one of the two remaining primary air corridors connecting Europe and Asia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

Dr Fiona Hunter, vice chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said A&E departments were providing "unsafe" levels of care, with some patients spending 72 hours on trolleys in hospital corridors.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

It was enough to be able to keep walking down the empty corridors behind the other girls.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

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Related Words

• aisle
• foyer
• hall
• lobby
• passage
• passageway

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