Meaning & use
loading dock
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Meanings
nouncountable
a raised platform at a building where trucks park so goods can be loaded or unloaded.
Grammar: Countable: say a loading dock or two loading docks.
Patterns
- at the loading dock
- a loading dock for something
- back a truck up to the loading dock
The delivery arrived at the loading dock just before noon.
Workers rolled the crates down the ramp from the loading dock.
The new warehouse has six loading docks along the north wall.
nouncountable
the area next to such a platform, including the space where vehicles wait.
Grammar: Also countable; often used with at or in when talking about position.
Patterns
- wait at the loading dock
- park in the loading dock
Two vans were waiting at the loading dock.
Please don't park in the loading dock; trucks need that space.
Word forms
| plural | loading docks |
|---|
Common combinations
- at the loading dock
- The driver is waiting at the loading dock.
- loading dock door
- Keep the loading dock door closed when it is not in use.
- back up to the loading dock
- He backed the truck up to the loading dock slowly.
- loading dock area
- Smoking is not allowed in the loading dock area.
- unload at the loading dock
- We unload at the loading dock behind the store.
Synonyms and how they differ
- loading bay
- Very close in meaning and more common in British English; it can also mean just the parking space rather than the raised platform.
- platform
- A general word for any raised flat surface; it does not by itself suggest trucks or goods.
Word family
Commonly confused: loading dock or dock?
loading dock vs dock
On its own, dock usually means a place where ships tie up, or the area around it; a loading dock is for trucks and goods at a building.
Practice
Which sentence uses "loading dock" correctly?
Choose one answer.
A loading dock is the platform where trucks load and unload goods, so sentence 2 fits. Sentence 1 describes a place for ships, which is normally just a dock, and the other options use the word with meanings it does not have.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “loading dock”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.