Meaning & use
port city
Last updated
UK/ˈpɔːt ˌsɪti/
US/ˈpɔːrt ˌsɪti/
Meaning
nouncountable
A city built beside a harbor where ships load and unload goods and passengers.
Grammar: Countable: a busy port city, many port cities.
Patterns
- a port city in somewhere
- a major port city
Rotterdam is Europe's largest port city.
They grew up in a port city where ferries left every hour.
The port city flourished once trade with Asia opened.
Word forms
| plural | port cities |
|---|
Common combinations
- a busy port city
- Hamburg is a busy port city with a long trading history.
- a major port city
- Shanghai is a major port city on the East China Sea.
- a historic port city
- We toured the historic port city by boat.
- a coastal port city
- She grew up in a coastal port city in Brazil.
- port city economy
- Shipping drives the port city economy.
Synonyms and how they differ
- seaport
- Seaport can mean just the harbor facilities, while port city stresses the whole city built around them.
- harbor town
- Harbor town sounds smaller and more picturesque than port city, which suggests a large commercial centre.
- trading hub
- Trading hub focuses on commerce and need not be on the coast, whereas a port city is always on water.
Opposites
inland city
Word family
Commonly confused: port city or capital city?
port city vs capital city
A capital city is the seat of government; a port city is defined by its harbor, and the two are often different places.
Practice
Which place is best described as a port city?
Choose one answer.
A port city is a city whose harbor handles ships and cargo. The other options have no connection to shipping.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “port city”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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