airport

airport, airdrome, airfield, airstrip, landing strip, flying field, landing field denote a place where airplanes may take off and land in safety.

Airport implies a well-marked and lighted nonmilitary place, either on land or water, that is used regularly and provides facilities for sheltering passengers, handling cargo, supplying fuel, making repairs, and housing planes.

Airdrome is practically synonymous with airport but is applied to both civil and military places, connotes the physical installation, and has been largely replaced by airport.

Airfield is used of an open area of land with one or more runways and limited or no facilities for shelter or maintenance of planes. However, in strict usage, airfield is applied only to the part of an airport on land where planes land and take off.

An airstrip is a specially prepared usually hard-surfaced strip of land with few or no facilities for sheltering or maintenance of planes and is often located in an advanced military position or in a remote area for occasional or emergency use.

Landing strip in one of its meanings is synonymous with airstrip and in the other meaning with runway.

A flying field is an airport or military airdrome, but the term is sometimes applied especially to a small airfield for privately owned planes or to a temporary airfield.

A landing field is a land area clear or cleared of tall trees and other obstructions for flying operations.