transportation

Meanings

1. 1noununcountableAmerican

   The business or system of moving people or goods from one place to another, including the vehicles and routes used.

   Grammar: Uncountable: public transportation, not a transportation. In British English transport is the usual word.

   Patterns

   • transportation to something
   • transportation of something

   The city is investing in public transportation.

   Free transportation to the stadium is provided for fans.

   Rising fuel costs have raised the price of transportation.

2. 2noununcountableAmerican

   A vehicle or service you use to travel somewhere.

   Grammar: Uncountable: I need transportation, not a transportation.

   Patterns

   • need transportation
   • arrange transportation

   Do you have transportation to the airport?

   The company arranged transportation for the visiting team.

3. 3noununcountableold-fashioned

   The act of sending convicted criminals to a distant colony as punishment, used in the past.

   Grammar: Historical sense: transportation to Australia.

   Patterns

   • transportation to somewhere

   Transportation to Australia was a common sentence in the 1800s.

   The convict received a sentence of transportation for life.

Common combinations

public transportation

I take public transportation to work.

means of transportation

Bicycles are a cheap means of transportation.

mode of transportation

Which mode of transportation is fastest here?

transportation costs

Transportation costs rise when fuel does.

ground transportation

The hotel offers ground transportation from the airport.

Department of Transportation

The Department of Transportation announced new road funding.

Synonyms and how they differ

transport

Transport is the British form and is also the verb, whereas transportation is the usual American noun.

travel

Travel is the act of going somewhere, whereas transportation is the system or vehicles that make travel possible.

conveyance

Conveyance is a formal, old-fashioned word for a vehicle, and it sounds far more stiff than transportation.

shipping

Shipping usually covers goods sent by sea or courier, and transportation also includes people.

Word family

transport verb

to carry people or goods from one place to another

transport noun

the British word for systems of moving people and goods

transporter noun

a vehicle or person that carries things

transportable adjective

able to be carried from one place to another

Commonly confused: transportation or transport?

Practice

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

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