transportation
- 1A means of getting from one place to another; the vehicle or system used for travel.
Without reliable transportation, getting to work becomes a daily struggle for many families.
The campus offers free transportation between its three main buildings.
UsageUsed without a, even for one car: have transportation, need transportation to work (not
incorrect: a transportation).Similartransport, transit, conveyance
- 2The act of carrying people or goods from one place to another, or the state of being carried.
The transportation of fresh produce often requires refrigerated trucks.
The transportation of injured soldiers from the battlefield saved many lives.
UsageOften the transportation of goods or people, and before other nouns: transportation costs, a transportation system.
Similartransport, conveyance, carriage, shipping, haulage
- 3The punishment of sending a convicted criminal to a distant penal colony.
Under the old laws, transportation to Australia replaced execution for many petty crimes.
Redpath was sentenced to transportation for life, and his assets, amounting to over £25,000, went to reduce the sum that the Great Northern had to find.
1957, Michael Robbins, “The Redpath Frauds on the Great Northern Railway”Similardeportation, banishment, exile
Note
The word keeps its legal phrasing for a punishment that now belongs to history. A convict was sentenced to transportation, sometimes transportation for life, or had a death sentence commuted to it. Michael Robbins, writing in 1957 about the Redpath frauds on the Great Northern Railway, uses exactly that formula. In modern prose it names a past penalty, not a current one, so it usually travels with a date or a place.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Transportation denotes a historical punishment involving deportation to a penal colony. en.wiktionary.org
- Convicts could be sentenced to transportation for life. en.wiktionary.org
- A death sentence could be commuted to transportation. heritage.warwickshire.gov.uk
- Michael Robbins used the formula in a 1957 article about the Redpath frauds on the Great Northern Railway. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meaning
- 4A ticket or the fare paid for a journey on a public conveyance.
Practice
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Origin
Formed from the verb "transport" combined with the suffix "-ation".
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Transportation is formed from transport and the suffix -ation. en.wiktionary.org