corridor

noun

cor·​ri·​dor ˈkȯr-ə-dər How to pronounce corridor (audio)
ˈkär-,
-ˌdȯr
1
a
: a passageway (as in a hotel or office building) into which compartments or rooms open
b
: a place or position in which especially political power is wielded through discussion and deal-making
was excluded from the corridors of power after losing the election
2
: a usually narrow passageway or route: such as
a
: a narrow strip of land through foreign-held territory
b
: a restricted lane for air traffic
c
: a land path used by migrating animals
3
a
: a densely populated strip of land including two or more major cities
… the Northeast corridor stretching from Washington into New England …S. D. Browne
b
: an area or stretch of land identified by a specific common characteristic or purpose
a corridor of liberalism
the city's industrial corridor

Examples of corridor in a Sentence

They pushed me down the hospital corridor to the operating room. A corridor of land lies between the two mountain ranges.
Recent Examples on the Web As the slowest of the three options, the streetcars would travel the corridor in about 45½ minutes westbound and 44 minutes, 49 seconds eastbound. Frederick Melo, Twin Cities, 1 Mar. 2024 Beyond a nakba? When Israeli tanks rolled in and shelled the UNRWA school, Ms. Haddad, her two sons, their wives, and her grandchildren left Khan Yunis through a safe corridor, heading to the outskirts of Rafah. Ghada Abdulfattah, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 Mar. 2024 Harrington moved Casa de Español to its now-familiar corner on downtown’s R Street corridor in 2015. Cathie Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 29 Feb. 2024 In the short run, those who wish to bring peace to Sudan must negotiate a meaningful cease-fire and establish safe corridors for the delivery of humanitarian aid. John Prendergast, Foreign Affairs, 27 Feb. 2024 Running directly over the world's largest aquifer—which supplies drinking water to around 5 million people in Mexico—and cutting a 68-mile path through crucial tropical rainforests, the project jeopardizes crucial biological corridors. Natalie Stoclet, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2024 But investigators monitoring wire taps learned that Cruz was bringing a large amount of meth north through Oregon and into Washington on Interstate 5, a popular drug corridor. Beth Warren, The Courier-Journal, 21 Feb. 2024 Their 2021 study defined a hotspot corridor as any 1,000-meter-long segment of roadway with six fatal crashes across eight years. USA TODAY, 20 Feb. 2024 The Indiana Toll Road Concession Company, established in 2006, is responsible for the construction, repair, maintenance and operation of the Toll Road, and since 2016, the organization has provided over $600 million in improvements on the Northern Indiana corridor. Marina Johnson, The Indianapolis Star, 22 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'corridor.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

earlier "covered passageway, path surrounding fortifications," borrowed from French, borrowed from regional Italian (by-form of Tuscan corridoio), from correre "to run" (going back to Latin currere) + -idore, going back to Latin -i-tōrium (from -i- -i- + -tōrium, suffix of place, from neuter of -tōrius, adjective derivative of -tōr-, -tor, agent suffix) — more at current entry 1

First Known Use

1719, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of corridor was in 1719

Dictionary Entries Near corridor

Cite this Entry

“Corridor.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/corridor. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

corridor

noun
cor·​ri·​dor ˈkȯr-əd-ər How to pronounce corridor (audio)
ˈkär-,
-ə-ˌdȯ(ə)r
1
: a passageway (as in a school) into which compartments or rooms open
2
: a narrow strip of land especially through territory held by an enemy
Etymology

from early French corridor "passageway," from early Italian corridore (same meaning), from correre "to run," from Latin currere "to run" — related to course, current

More from Merriam-Webster on corridor

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