airport terminal

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A building at an airport where passengers check in, wait, and get on or off their flights.

   Grammar: Countable: use 'a terminal' or 'the terminal'; the plural is 'terminals'.

   Patterns

   • at the airport terminal
   • in Terminal 2
   • arrive at a terminal

   Our flight leaves from the airport terminal on the north side.

   She waited in the airport terminal for three hours because of the delay.

   A free bus takes passengers between the airport terminals.

2. 2nouncountable

   One of the separate buildings or sections of a large airport, usually numbered.

   Grammar: Often used with a number: 'Terminal 1', 'Terminal 5'.

   Patterns

   • Terminal 1
   • Terminal 5
   • the international terminal

   Check your ticket to see whether you fly from Terminal 2 or Terminal 3.

   The international terminal handles most long-distance flights.

Word forms

Common combinations

arrive at the terminal

We arrived at the terminal two hours before the flight.

the departure terminal

The departure terminal was crowded that morning.

a terminal building

The terminal building has a café and a small shop.

Terminal 1

Her plane leaves from Terminal 1.

Synonyms and how they differ

terminal

The short form; it means the same thing but only makes sense when the airport is already clear from the context.

airport building

A looser, more general phrase; it can refer to any building at an airport, not just the one passengers use for flights.

Word family

terminal noun

The shortened form of the same building.

airport noun

The whole place where planes land and take off, which contains one or more terminals.

Commonly confused: airport terminal or airport? airport terminal or terminus?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “airport terminal”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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