noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of passageway
Explanation
A passageway is a hall or a walkway that connects one area to another. You might pass from a small museum through a passageway to an outdoor sculpture garden, for example. Passageways typically connect rooms or buildings to each other, and they're generally walled and slightly narrow. A passageway in a hotel might lead from an elevator to your fancy suite, and a castle might be full of stone passageways leading from room to room, some of them hidden in the walls. This noun is American in origin, from passage and its French root passer, "to go by" and way, "road or path."
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.
See Examples For:
The 1,200-square-foot Ship Wreck House has three decks and pirate details, such as a water cannon and secret passageway leading to a treasure-themed chamber with a skeleton and a chest of doubloons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Prabowo said on Monday that Indonesia and Singapore "have an interest in keeping the Strait of Malacca as a free passageway".
From Barron's ● Jul. 6, 2026
The passageway is accessed using a “sophisticated hydraulic lift” and extends from Otay Mesa, underneath the U.S.-Mexico border and into Tijuana.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
Reports say the deal could allow "unrestricted" passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and that Iran would have 30 days to remove mines from the narrow shipping passageway.
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
Boo flew down the passageway, urging her forward.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
The meandering floor plan, with its rooms of various sizes and orientations alongside their resulting passageways and corners, demands that you wander, not map, your perusal of the galleries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
Five years later, Madison Square Garden was planted atop it, banishing sunlight and driving commuters into a subterranean maze of passageways.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026
The move could bring some barrels back into circulation relatively quickly as one of the world’s major maritime passageways, the Strait of Hormuz, remains effectively shut.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 13, 2026
Code 22-1307, which prohibits individuals from crowding or obstructing streets, sidewalks, building entrances, or other passageways, and D.C.
From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2025
A few dim light- bulbs provided a tiny bit of illumination inside the dark passageways.
From "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick
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.
