portal

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A website or online page that brings many services or pieces of information together and works as a starting point for users.

   Grammar: Often a modifier too: a student portal, a patient portal.

   Patterns

   • log in to a portal
   • a portal for something

   Parents can check homework and grades through the school's online portal.

   You must upload your documents to the employee portal before Friday.

   The city launched a portal where residents can pay bills and report problems.

2. 2nouncountableformal

   A large, impressive doorway or entrance, especially to a church or a grand building.

   Grammar: Often found in writing about architecture: the western portal of the cathedral.

   Patterns

   • the portal of something

   Carved saints lined the portal of the old cathedral.

   Visitors paused beneath the stone portal before entering the palace courtyard.

3. 3nouncountablefigurative

   In stories and games, a magical gateway that lets characters travel instantly to another place or world.

   Grammar: Common in fantasy and science fiction: step through a portal.

   Patterns

   • open a portal
   • step through a portal

   The children discovered a shimmering portal at the back of the wardrobe.

   In the game, the wizard opens a portal to the underworld.

   The film's plot hinges on a portal that connects two timelines.

Word forms

Common combinations

online portal

Patients can book appointments through the online portal.

web portal

The company runs a secure web portal for clients.

log in to the portal

Please log in to the portal to see your timetable.

step through a portal

She stepped through a portal and found herself on another planet.

open a portal

The sorcerer opened a portal with a wave of his staff.

a portal to another world

The old map felt like a portal to another world.

Synonyms and how they differ

gateway

Gateway can mean any entrance or route to something, including a web service, and is a little more general than portal.

entrance

Entrance is the plain everyday word for a way in and lacks the technical or fantasy feel of portal.

doorway

Doorway describes the physical opening of a door and would not normally be used for a website.

hub

Hub stresses a central point where things connect, so it fits a busy website better than a grand doorway.

Opposites

Word family

portals noun

plural, several entrances or sites

portico noun

a roofed porch with columns at the entrance to a building

port noun

a gate or doorway in older usage, or a place for ships

porter noun

originally a person who guarded a door

Commonly confused: portal or portable?

Practice

Make it your own

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

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