Meaning & use
passport
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
An official document, usually a small book, issued by a government to prove your identity and nationality when you enter or leave a country.
Grammar: Countable: one passport, two passports; often modified by valid, expired, or stolen.
Patterns
- a valid passport
- apply for a passport
- show your passport
- renew a passport
She showed her passport at the border and was waved through.
You will need to apply for a passport several weeks before your trip.
nouncountablefigurative
Something that gives you the means or right to enter a place, join a group, or achieve something.
Grammar: Countable, usually with to: a passport to success. This use is figurative.
Patterns
- a passport to something
- a passport to success
A degree from that university was once a passport to a top job.
Her fluent English became a passport to work all over the world.
Word forms
| plural | passports |
|---|
Common combinations
- a valid passport
- Make sure you have a valid passport before booking international flights.
- passport control
- We waited forty minutes at passport control at Heathrow.
- apply for a passport
- He applied for a passport as soon as he booked his ticket.
- renew a passport
- You should renew a passport at least six months before it expires.
Commonly confused: passport or visa?
passport vs visa
A passport proves who you are and where you are from; a visa is a separate official permission, stuck in or attached to the passport, that some countries require you to have.
Practice
Because her passport expires next month, she needs to ___ it before traveling abroad.
Choose one answer.
When an official document has nearly expired, you renew it to make it valid again. Review (read again), return (give back), and reveal (show) are all real verbs but none of them would make a passport valid for travel.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “passport”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.