corridor

UK: /ˈkɒrɪdɔː^r/

US: /ˈkɔrɪdɚ, ˈkɑr-/

US: (kôr′i dər, -dôr′, kor′-)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

cor•ri•dor /ˈkɔrɪdɚ, ˈkɑr-/   n. [countable]

1. a passageway connecting rooms, apartments, etc.;
   hallway.
2. Transport a thickly populated part of a country with major land and air transportation routes:
   Storms crippled air traffic along the Northeast corridor today.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

cor•ri•dor  (kôr′i dər, -dôr′, kor′-), n. 

1. a gallery or passage connecting parts of a building;
   hallway.
2. a passage into which several rooms or apartments open.
3. Transport 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. Transport 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. Aerospace, 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.

• Latin -i-tōrium; see -i-, -tory²
• Latin currere) + -idore
• Upper Italian corridore (Tuscan corridoio), equivalent. to corr(ere) to run (
• Middle French
• 1585–95

cor′ri•dored, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

corridor / 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
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. corridors of power ⇒ 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

Etymology: 16th Century: from Old French, from Old Italian corridore, literally: place for running, from correre to run, from Latin currere