passport
Americannoun
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passports
plural
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an official document issued by the government of a country to one of its citizens and, varying from country to country, authorizing travel to foreign countries and authenticating the bearer's identity, citizenship, right to protection while abroad, and right to reenter their native country.
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anything that ensures admission or acceptance.
A good education can be your passport to success.
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any authorization to pass or go somewhere.
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a document issued to a ship, especially to a neutral merchant ship in time of war, granting or requesting permission to proceed without molestation in certain waters.
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a certificate intended to secure admission.
noun
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an official document issued by a government, identifying an individual, granting him permission to travel abroad, and requesting the protection of other governments for him
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a licence granted by a state to a foreigner, allowing the passage of his person or goods through the country
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another word for sea letter
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a quality, asset, etc, that gains a person admission or acceptance
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of passport
First recorded in 1490–1500; earlier passeport from Middle French, equivalent to passe- (stem of passer to pass ) + port port 1
Explanation
A passport is a government-issued document you need to travel between countries. Americans must have a passport to travel out of the U.S., even if they're just going to Canada for the weekend. A passport is a small book that includes the name, nationality, and photograph of the person it belongs to. Its many pages are stamped each time you enter a new country. When you apply for a passport, you have to prove your identity and nationality, and have your picture taken. Colloquially, passport also means something that helps you get where you want to go: "This amusement part ticket is your passport to fun!"
Vocabulary lists containing passport
Greetings, World Traveler! — List 1
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Travel
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for April 9–April 15, 2022
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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:
He doesn’t carry a U.S. passport, but he believes America is the best friend the Chinese people have.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
Among the convention’s big winners were companies promising to help people buy citizenship elsewhere or, as one such company advertised, “diversify your passport portfolio.”
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
Robinson has served jail time in the U.K. on charges including assaulting an off-duty police officer, using a false passport to enter the U.S. and mortgage fraud.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Police found he had entered the country on a false passport and sent him to a detention centre in Sydney.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
“I know that. I was looking at that passport today. The thing is, their birthday isn’t the twenty-ninth of July. It’s the third of March.”
From "Ruby Holler" by Sharon Creech
Some of his civil servant friends, even those working in museums, find it "very difficult" to travel abroad and have been told they cannot directly apply for passports because of their jobs, Xiao Wang said.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
The second held Latvian and Russian passports and was believed to have acted as logistics coordinator and instructor for the attack.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
As they submitted their American passports and entered the communist colossus, they appeared to be musicians, as indeed they were.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
One man told the BBC he had met Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Friday when he visited the region, saying Burnham had promised to personally intervene to help his family get their passports.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
It seemed as if everyone in the city had decided to get passports that day, perhaps preparing to leave the country.
From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah
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.
