Meaning & use
secure area
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A place that is protected and can only be entered by people who are allowed to be there.
Grammar: Countable: a secure area, several secure areas; often used with 'in' or 'into'.
Patterns
- in a secure area
- enter a secure area
- a secure area of something
Passengers without a boarding pass cannot go into the secure area of the airport.
The documents are kept in a secure area that only senior staff can access.
Security guards patrol the secure area around the power station.
nouncountablecomputing
A section of a website or computer system that only authorized users can reach.
Grammar: Common in computing; often followed by 'of the site' or 'on the server'.
Patterns
- a secure area of a website
- log into a secure area
Your payment details are stored in a secure area of the site.
Only registered members can log into the secure area.
Word forms
| plural | secure areas |
|---|
Common combinations
- airport secure area
- Once you're past security, you're in the airport secure area.
- restricted secure area
- The lab is a restricted secure area with badge access only.
- enter a secure area
- Visitors must be escorted to enter a secure area.
- secure area of the building
- The server room is a secure area of the building.
Synonyms and how they differ
- restricted area
- Similar, but 'restricted' stresses the rules about who may enter, while 'secure' stresses protection from intruders.
- no-go area
- This is informal and often means a dangerous place people avoid, not a protected one.
- safe zone
- A safe zone is a place free from danger, often in a game or conflict; a secure area is controlled and guarded.
Opposites
Word family
- security noun
- The protection and measures used to keep a place or person safe.
- securely adverb
- In a safe or firmly protected way.
Commonly confused: secure area or safe area?
secure area vs safe area
'Safe area' means a place free from danger; 'secure area' means a place controlled and protected from unauthorized entry.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'secure area' most naturally.
Choose one answer.
'Secure area' is a noun phrase for a protected place, so option 1 fits. Option 0 sounds odd because a children's play area is normally called a 'safe area', and options 2 and 3 misuse 'secure' as an adjective in the wrong pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “secure area”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.